


In His Eyes

by LittyInky



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Magic, Bird/Human Hybrids, Earl Lance (Voltron), Emotional Confusion, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, I promise Lance is not a creep, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, M/M, NaNoWriMo 2018, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Prince Keith (Voltron), Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, War, avian keith, on Lance's part, or at least i feel like it is because i take forever to update sometimes, some violence may happen in later chapters, well... he's like half bird too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-08-14 14:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16494353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittyInky/pseuds/LittyInky
Summary: Allura had always been his one and only.It should have stayed that way. He shouldn't have allowed his eyes to stray away, locking onto the Avian from the fighter class. No matter how much he irritated Lance, he should have never given Keith the time of day. And he definitely should not have continued to provoke him. His eyes, for a long time, were meant for Allura.Only now they were seeing someone else.





	1. Chapter 1

_Since before the war, Alteans had always been a rare species. The few who existed had even fewer magic wielders. The moment they were classified as endangered, to prevent the Altean genes from disappearing completely, the King prohibited interbreeding among the other species. Many Alteans were outraged by this. Lovers were pulled apart, protesters sentenced to prison, and arranged marriages were issued without consent._

_Among the Alteans, there was once a young alchemist—let’s call her Honerva—who was very bright and very curious of the world. For as long as she could remember, she has been trying to unlock the secrets behind Altean magic. Why did some have it? What were we able to do with it? Why was the output quintessence? What exactly_ was _quintessence?_

_Honerva asked these questions to the higher-ups, but even they weren’t able to give a proper answer. All records concerning magic and alchemy seem to have been lost with the reduction of the Altean species. So she set about finding the answers herself. She first studied her own magic, then her families, then her peers._

_There was one thing she noticed immediately, magic was unique. The Alteans who were able to use it all had different properties, techniques, outputs. She grew curious and attempted to duplicate other people’s magic. The experiment didn’t go well, but that didn’t stop her. She kept on theorizing more ideas, kept trying them out, kept her mind positive and open._

_Honerva’s research didn’t go unnoticed. The King himself grew interested by her findings and offered her a lab and workers. Her work grew and she was able to uncover marvelous things with the new equipment and extra hands. She began helping those who were struggling in the ways to alchemy, formed forces to protect their peaceful country, Altea. She became an important and valuable alchemist._

_She became Empress Honerva._

* * *

In his eyes, Allura had always been the one.

They called her ‘the gifted Altean’ since she inherited the rare and powerful magic only few were blessed to possess. She grew to be strong, courageous, quick-witted, gracious… and beautiful. She is, without a doubt, perfect.

Lance is also an Altean, but unlike with Allura they called him ‘the defected Altean’ or something along that line. He had the glowing marks swirling around his body, had the signature grayish/white hair, the multi-colored irises… but he also had a humanesque constitution. Basically it means that, while he too possessed the rare magic sought after, his body isn’t able to handle the quintessence output and falls ill more often than not. It wasn’t much of a problem when he was little, having the benefit of a doubt that he would grow stronger throughout the years, but as a grown man of 18 years it certainly was. Having a mixed Altean for a mother and a purebred human for a father, it wasn’t a mystery as to why he was unlike Allura. Though, to be fair, not even the purest Altean was like Allura.

In all honesty, the other Alteans wouldn’t even call Lance ‘defected’ or whatever if it weren’t for the fact that both Allura and he were close friends, have been for as long as they could remember. They went through the majority of their childhood together, and not only were both their parents nlobles, but Allura and he had also gone to the same private academy.

Allura is well-loved by the people of Altea as she is also their princess. Her father, King Alfor, was actually the one who got rid of the prohibition of interbreeding. To this day, Lance still remembers the way the country had celebrated and cheered as the law was passed. He too was happy, of course, because finally his family was able to be together again. His father was allowed to come back along with all of his siblings, who were all human.

He remembers the way his father, a tall man who towered over him, had fallen down to his knees as he wrapped both him and his mother tightly in his arms. He remembers seeing the love in his father’s eyes as he gazed at the Altean woman he fell in love with so many years ago. He remembers feeling how the years were lost at the way his older brother, Luis, had apparently gone through another growth spurt in their time apart. He remembers the confusion he felt when seeing two little human kids clinging to his oldest brother, Marco, with another human woman at his side, the golden rings shining bright and new on one of their fingers. He remembers being astounded once he recognized the garrison uniform his oldest sister, Veronica, was wearing. He remembers the way he had forgotten how similar his twin sister, Rachel, was to him, not including the fact that their hair color was different and Lance had Altean marks high on his cheekbones.

It was a very good day—whole week actually. His father settled in nicely, was finally given the title, Duke. Marco and his wife moved in close by too, the kids were accepted easily into their new school. Veronica, his oldest sister, couldn’t stay since she was still studying abroad, but she called them and visited them often. Rachel couldn’t attend the same academy as Lance, since she wasn’t Altean, but it was fun having another daredevil in the house to cause trouble. Luis was usually at the end of their pranks; his reactions were always the funniest.

Soon after the excitement died down, the comparison got even more exaggerated. Allura became their beacon of hope and her accomplishments were known by everyone. And Lance? Well, he tried his hardest to train his magic, hoping that with enough practice his body would be able to withstand the quintessence output better. While he was right to think this, seeing the improvement throughout the years, it still wasn’t enough for the people.

Not that he cared for their appraisal or anything. Nope. Lance only had eyes for Allura. And Allura will be applying to the Galaxy Garrison this fall. Obviously she was going to be accepted without questions, heck they might not even give her the entrance exam. Not only was she the princess and wield ancient magic, but she was also an amazing pilot and fighter. First in her class actually!

Lance wanted to be by her side when she reached for the stars, so he was also applying to the garrison. It’s not that he doubted his pilot and fighter skills, but maybe with the help of a bit of magic he’d be able to pass with flying colors. Maybe he’ll be able to get fighter class like Allura will. It was a child’s dream, but maybe if he’d try just a bit harder he could do it. Maybe he’d be able to continue seeing her accomplishments with his own eyes.

“This cannot be healthy! Are you sure your parents are okay with this?” Allura asked. Her concern clear in her voice as her accent came out stronger than usual.

“Yeah, this is fine! Don’t… hugh,” He holds back the urge to empty out his stomach. Truth is, his parents aren’t aware of this. Nor should they ever be if he had any hope of applying to the garrison.

Allura made a frustrated sound and brought her hand up to his forehead, a whitish-blue glow illuminating from her palm. Lance hates it. Hates seeing the magic he’s unable to control coming to his aid. He jerks away and insists he’ll be just fine. Allura doesn’t seem to be too convinced, but she drops her hand anyways, the glow dying out. Her frown is grim and deep even as he gives her his signature smile to demonstrate he’s okay. It stays on even as she takes him to the academy’s infirmary.

It’s not Allura’s fault or anything. Nor does it have anything to do with her magic or with Allura herself. Lance just doesn’t want to be picked up by magic. He’ll allow that when it’s his own. Simple as that.

“Stop slacking off!” his trainer would say as he falls to the floor once more, having just been owned by another student in his class, a student who used magic during their spar session. It’s unfair when he knows that if the guy didn’t use magic then Lance would surely win.

 _I’m not slacking off._ He wants to say. It’s become such a common occurrence he’s learned to keep his usually open mouth shut.

That’s another reason as to why Lance is so fixated on Allura. Ever since they were little she has never used too much of her magic against him, if at all. She was too kind and righteous to ever do that to him.

Allura might be an outright amazing person, but he finds it be so humble how even she is able to get surprised by Lance’s magic at times. He can still recall back when they were eight years old; Allura watched in awe as Lance, with very careful and slow movements, raised the droplets from the grass and held them up high towards the sun so the rays would pass by. It created a holographic illusion, making mini rainbows around Lance and Allura. It didn’t last long as he soon after lost control and fell back on the ground with a yelp when the quintessence on his hands gave him a slight shock. However, the shock also caused small little explosions to the droplets and the reaction made it look like there were stars all around them.

Allura couldn’t stop talking about it for a few days.

She tried to imitate him once, but her magic was different from Lance’s apparently. She had been pretty disappointed when she found out that all she could do was hold the quintessence on her hands and manipulate it, but wasn’t able transfer it to the drops of water like Lance.

 Lance would argue that holding straight up quintessence was a lot cooler though. Certainly a lot flashier than holding drops of water. Allura would argue back that his magic was most definitely beautiful and unique.

“You’re magic is super cool!” Allura claimed as held up her arms straight up to demonstrate. “You’re just unable to control it yet, but when you do it’ll be like… the coolest!”

“The coolest?” Lance questioned with a hint of hope in his voice.

“Like,” Allura looked around. “Empress Honerva!” she said, pointing a finger to the statue at the entrance of the park.

Lance frowned, “That old hag? But I want to be like Allura!”

The princess huffed and adjusted the crown on her head. “That’s no good. You need to dream bigger than that!”

“That is big!” Lance pouted. “You’re magic is amazing!”

Allura sighed, “Fine! But then it’s Empress Honerva.”

Lance had smiled so big his cheeks ached, but he was excited for what Allura said to come true. He truly believed in it back then. They both did.

It wasn’t a good day when he had been told by the family doctor—after having severely vomited to the point of spitting out specks of blood—that his body isn’t able to handle the output of quintessence and he should refrain from using his magic anymore.

Lance hadn’t necessarily understood what that meant, but he remembered the dread he felt when they told him to not use it again. He tried to brush it off at first, thinking it might’ve been a fluke, but then even his parents started to reprimand him for using it.

In all this Allura was very supportive of him and tried to rise up his spirits whenever he felt down. She had been the only one to stand by his side as rumors of his defect spread. In his eyes she was the only one who never looked at him with pity.

If Lance were to look over and see the fathom silhouette of her, he’s not sure what would happen. That’s why he needs to pass the entrance exam.

“McClain, Lance!”

Lance jumps and snaps his head towards the instructor (Iver… y?) so fast he got whiplash.

“You’re up next!” the instructor says as he signals to the simulator.

When the world stops spinning, Lance can feel his nerves rising up as his tongue gets caught in his throat. He walks over to the simulator and sits down at the pilot’s seat.

Lance grabs the handles and takes a deep breath. _This is your moment._

“Huh, so you can talk?” the instructor comments. “Come on, Earl, we don’t have all day.”

Okay, so the instructor was an asshole. Brushing that off, before Lance gets worked up, he begins the simulation.

It wasn’t particularly hard. First few levels were easy enough to pass with a breeze. He knows he’s made it past a couple of applicants already, but it’s not enough. The garrison could easily put you as cargo pilot and that’s not what Lance wants. He’s aiming for fighter class.

If that one emo Avian (Kyle?) was anything to go by, he still has a few levels left to clear. Thing is, the levels are starting to get more and more difficult. You only get three revives and after that the simulation ends. Lance is on his last one. He’s definitely secured a spot at the garrison by now, but whether or not he’s in fighter class is uncertain unless he passes that guy’s score.

“And here I thought the Earl was defected.”

The results appeared in bright yellow letters. He was the sixth one on the list.

The instructor clears his throat, “all right, next up…”

He’s still in a bit of a shock as he exits the simulator. He was not bothered by that comment. He wasn’t. The meteorite came out of nowhere and he was unable to move out the way on time. Yeah, that’s what happened. He did pretty good if the 20-something applicants underneath his result were anything to go by. Surely with the physical exam coming up next he’ll definitely make it into the fighter class.

_The physical exam…_

Lance was supposed to ace the simulator so that he wouldn’t have to worry about doing badly on the physical exam. You know, since he’s unable to use his magic properly.

Yes, there were only five other Alteans among all the applicants, and as far as he knows maybe one can wield magic, but it’s the rest of the species that he was worried about. They ranged from Balmerans to Olkaris to Avians to Humans to Galrans to even mixed species. They all had their own qualities and an Altean with no magic couldn’t possibly have a chance against them.

 _No_ , Lance scolded in his head. He had to stay positive and optimistic. The calmer he was the more in control of his magic he had.

But, of course, fate would have it that Lance had to be partnered up with the emo Avian (not Kyle whoops) dude.

See, Keith wasn’t big nor was he intimidating looking, but it’s those black wings on his back that had Lance feeling a bit uneasy. They were bulky, and huge, and had sharp-looking feathers. _Can feathers be sharp?_ One hit from them mighty wings and Lance was sure to knock right the fuck out.

However, he noticed the way Keith was eyeing him cautiously, glancing down at his hands every few seconds. The wary look made Lance feel more confident. Maybe this guy wasn’t as good of a fighter as a pilot. In that case, Lance would thank the heavens for this chance.

Their match started.

Keith was not a bad fighter, Lance realized during the first minute. He was, in fact, a very, very, _very_ good fighter. So he was wrong about that. He was right about the wings, though. They hurt like a bitch. He nearly busted a rib there.

The match wasn’t going to be easy and so far it was heading towards Keith’s favor. So Lance used the last thing he didn’t want to have to use. It sparkled around his hands at first as he struggled to gain control of the quintessence. Keith noticed immediately and his attacks turned to be more guarded.

Lance could feel the tingling around his chest swirling and clashing his insides. His marks glowed brightly through his clothes as the quintessence was omitted. He couldn’t hold it for long so he had to make his move fast.

Even with Keith’s guard up Lance wasn’t able to get in close to him. The wings kept holding him at a distance. He needed them to go away. If Lance learned anything in his training course, it was that if your opponent keeps holding you at a distance then most likely close combat wasn’t their strong point.

Lance wasn’t good at close combat either, but at this point if he had any hope of making it to fighter class, he needed those wings away.

With a jolt he was able to disperse a shock from his palms. It wasn’t strong and it wouldn’t hurt more than a bug bite, but the surprise of the shock would hopefully be enough to move the wings back and give him an opening.

Sure enough the wing jerked away from his palm and he was able to maneuver, thanks to his rather lanky frame, through the space and… well hopefully knock Keith out. Or at least just push him hard enough so he’s out of the circle.

Well, Lance might have been right about everything concerning the wings, but he is certainly not right about the body it’s attached to. Keith is apparently also ridiculously good at close combat. Able to recover with a speed faster than Allura, and with a strength that came out of nowhere he flips Lance outside the circle. Seriously, the guy just up and chucks Lance over like he’s weightless. He might not be a bulky guy, but he is very tall, taller than Keith.

The instructor announces the end of the match.

Keith holds his hand out towards Lance, a clear offer of help. Lance couldn’t help but feel a bit played. If Keith was such a good fighter then why didn’t he just end it right from the start? It would have saved Lance the time and energy. He wouldn’t have gotten his hopes up like this only to have it stomped over.

Lance ignores the hand and sends a glare over to the Avian. He gets up on his own with little effort, and shoves his way past the guy. The surprise on Keith’s face doesn’t go unnoticed, but it does get filed away to his ‘I don’t care’ folder. As he feels an aftershock in his chest from side effects, Lance decides that he doesn’t really like this guy.

The day ends with the written exam. Lance is sure he at least aced that, so either way he knows he’ll be accepting into the Galaxy Garrison. Just not as a cargo pilot. Allura, who was in a separate testing group, tells to not think so negatively, but it wasn’t easy. He was supposed to have done better. He could have done better, if it weren’t for that Keith guy. The stinging pain is his chest still lingers like a haunting reminder.

In his eyes, Keith was his rival.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made it just in time! First time doing nanowrimo, so I'm a bit nervous, but also very excited to see where this story goes! First story on AO3 too haha.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He's in a very petty mood this evening, but at least the nunvil was good company.
> 
> ... and Hunk as well.

_Altea’s land grew rich and its people flourished with gold. Illness never spread and the people lived longer. Empress Honerva’s work spread far and out to the rest of the world’s ears. Even though Altea’s people weren’t of many, their magic became sacred. Travelers came by, seeking trades, enchantments, and health. Alliances were formed with the small country._

_Balmeran’s offered their crystals to Altea in turn for their land’s regrowth and protection. These crystals, with the help of the Olkari’s technical expertise, became powerful batteries for their equipment, weapons, and buildings. Technology improved as the Humans figured out a way to link Altean magic to it as a way to secure it from others. It became common knowledge that only an Altean was able to activate the technology._

_Avian’s, who are a very isolated and pompous species, flew down from their sky islands to investigate the commotion the land species were causing. They too grew intrigued by the findings of magic and were curious of the Empress Honerva who appeared out of nowhere. They offered their own surveillance and beautiful clothing in turn for health and gold._

_The Galra were a bit difficult to approach. The two countries have been at odds for centuries. Many attempts were made in the past to create some sort of treaty, but the two kings were never able to agree to the conditions._

_Empress Honerva tried her best to convince the King for another try. The Galra were the only ones who were not in some sort of alliance with Altea. She explained to him all that they’d be able to do with the galran’s strength at their side and not against them. The King was unsure, but he knew how the alchemist had never failed when her mind was set on something. He had first seat at all of her accomplishments, had been at her side as she succeeded and rose Altea up._

_He agreed to her demands and sent an invitation to Emperor Zarkon._

* * *

Lance wasn’t surprised. He truly wasn’t.

That didn’t stop the dread from building up in his chest, a heavy feeling in his heart that brought about a fathom ache. He got into the garrison alright. Just not as a fighter pilot. His parents tried to cheer him up, telling him he could try again the next semester, because hey! At least he got in, right?

Lance also wasn’t surprised when Allura had come to his house, holding out a paper and wearing a smile so bright he almost forget about his own results. Lance had congratulated her in the most enthusiastic matter he could muster. Allura, though, had known (bless this girl.) The happiness dissipated from her face, and before Lance could even blink Allura had her arms wrapped around him.

As always, he couldn’t hide anything from her. From others? Easy peasy. From Allura? Nope, he never got away with it. She knew him far too well. She’d been there in his ups and downs and was the only one he couldn’t fool with his façade. She was the only one able to break down his walls. Only one he could really let loose with.

If he shed a few tears Allura didn’t mention it.

He knew it wasn’t a big deal to cry and he shouldn’t be ashamed of it when he’d seen all of his family’s tears at one point in his lifetime, but he had far too much pride.

Allura had helped raise him up once more, filled his head with the sky and stars, had him let out laughs rather than sobs.

“Who knows?” Allura said with a wink, “maybe you’ll even be a paladin.”

Lance couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed this hard—well he’s sure he has at some point, but he’s trying to emphasize something here, alright?

She joked about how maybe he’d be the red paladin and maybe she’d be the blue paladin.

“Why do you get blue?” Lance had whined. “That’s my favorite color so I should definitely be the blue paladin.”

“I don’t want to be the red paladin.” Allura puffed out her cheeks in a pout, “That’s too much responsibility. I’m already the princess as it is!”

Lance hummed and grabbed his chin. What paladin should Allura be? Her favorite color was pink…

Lance gasps and snaps his fingers. “You can be the pink paladin!” At Allura’s confused expression, he continued. “Just paint the red lion and bam! You can be the pink paladin.”

Allura gasps too. Then they laughed till both of their stomachs began to hurt. The day ends when they finished packing his things in the luggage.

The ache in his chest lifted just a little.

Before the new garrison students left for their studies, there was a farewell party for them (as King Alfor said, but the people actually threw it for princess.)

Allura and Lance had gotten matching outfits as they would be attending together, as they did with every party. Allura had a beautiful baby blue dress with pink flowers scattered across the bottom. Her torso embellished with the same pink embroidery. Lance had on his tuxedo; the blazer and slacks were a matching shade of pink, the hem embroidered with flowers in baby blue. His bowtie was also blue along with a white undershirt and pink dress shoes.

They looked good, in their matching outfits, walking out of the castle together with their arms linked. Lance couldn’t help the way a smug smirk played on his lips as he gazed at all of the people they stunned still.

“Lance.” Allura said as a warning, not that she really cared. He knew she was enjoying the attention as well.

The King emerged from the crowd and held his arms out to them. “Allura, Lance! They two look stunning.” He hugs them both tightly for a second. “Come, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

This happened often. Altea always threw the best parties and so nobles from all around usually attended them. Meeting them was a polite gesture they had to follow every time.

They approached a tall male Galran that was surrounded by four female Galrans in full armor. Right from the start alarm bells started ringing in his head. He ignored it however when the Galra turned around, spotting them immediately, and a charming smile graced his lips.

Lance was very much a cocky guy, knowing he had the face many envied and admired, but this guy? Wow, this guy was beautiful! And Lance didn’t admit that often.

“There you are, King Alfor. I was beginning to worry you got lost,” he joked. Beautiful and a jokester? Lance was beginning to not like him.

Alfor laughed, “Nonsense!” He turned to Allura and Lance as he gestured to the Galra. “I’d like you two to meet the future Emperor of the Galra Empire.”

“Oh, don’t flatter me.” The Galra said, he approached them and gave them a polite bow. “Pleasure to you, I’m Prince Lotor of the Galra Empire.”

Allura responded accordingly with a bow as well, “Princess Allura.”

Lance just gave him a judgmental look and crossed his arms across his chest. Allura elbowed him, though. “Lance,” he said with a gruff voice.

It wasn’t like he was trying to be petty or anything. The prince or whatever just didn’t rub him the right way. He was too… perfect.

Allura seemed to disagree as she struck up a conversation with him, talking about Prince Lotor’s name or something. Lance wasn’t sure. He wasn’t really paying attention. Just nodded and grunted when Allura occasionally addressed him.

Prince Lotor was strange. He didn’t really look like a Galran. Of course, he had the height, purplish skin, yellowed sclera, pointy ears, but then he had long white hair. Lance had never seen a Galran with white hair before, much less long and luscious like an Alteans. Galra people normally didn’t have hair, if they did it was usually fur that surrounded their whole body. Then again, when the war began, Daibazaal got divided into two separated empires. The Galra Empire had the lesser population and so many Galrans were mixed.

At some point Prince Lotor had apparently asked for a tour (again, he wasn’t paying attention) and Allura had agreed instantly. King Alfor had cleared his throat after a full minute of awkward silence and dismissed himself. Lance gave the Altean a glare and the man acted as if he didn’t see anything.

Lance was not worried. Allura always had these moments where she’ll get infatuated with someone only to give them the cold shoulder a few days later. She always claimed that she didn’t have the time to be in a relationship. Annoyed, though, he was most definitely. Prince Lotor was not the right guy for her. He didn’t need to know the guy to be able to tell.

He’ll talk to Allura about this later. Right now there was a party going on and he wasn’t about to let _that guy_ ruin it for him.

Lance walked through the crowds, trying and failing to see either Allura or that guy. He did, however, spot a familiar looking Balmeran.

“Hunk!” Lance threw his arms around the big guy. “I missed you!”

The Balmeran laughed and hugged him back just as tightly. “It’s good to see you too, Lance. How’s Allura? I heard she got into the fighter class.”

Lance rolled his eyes, “Who hasn’t heard that? There are snitches everywhere.”

Hunk frowned and patted his back, “Sorry about the cargo class.”

Lance waved his hand in dismissal, “Don’t worry about that. I’ll just try harder next semester, but hey! I heard you got into engineering. That’s amazing!”

Hunk scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “It was nothing.” He then gestured to someone who was standing behind him. “Lance, I’d like you to meet someone.”

Lance raised his perfectly trimmed eyebrow and looked at who his beloved Hunk could have possibly wanted him to meet.

And of course it’s the fucking emo Avian from the entrance exam.

“Keith, this is my friend that I talked to you about the other day.” Poor oblivious Hunk turns to Lance, “Lance, is my friend Keith.”

Keith gave him a shy nod, “Nice to see you again, Lance.”

Lance, feeling awfully petty once more, pursed his lips and snapped, “That’s _Earl_ Lance to you.”

The Avian’s neutral expression twisted to a scowl instantly and he scoffed out, “Then that’s _Prince_ Keith to you.”

Of course he is. Lance should really get used to this surprised feeling the guy—prince—keeps giving him if it’s going to happen all the time. He really shouldn’t be glaring at a prince, but he honestly couldn’t give two shits about courtesy right now (he can feel his mother’s disapproving stare.)

Hunk looked back and forth between the two and let out a sigh. “I assume you two already met?”

“Oh, we met alright.” Lance grumbled out.

Before Hunk could say anything else, someone called out his name. It was Shay, the beautiful Balmeran he was betrothed to, and so with an apologetic look Hunk left the two. Lance took the time to take in the Avian’s appearance. He had been far too enraged to do that the other day.

Keith is very pretty, he noticed immediately. Shorter than Lance, but had a thicker frame than he did. His hair, jet black and slightly curled at the tips, kissed his shoulders and created a look that could easily pass as a mullet, which is strangely a nice look for him. His eyes were a deep purple that held an intense stare…

“What’s your problem?” Keith suddenly said, which snapped Lance from whatever plane of existence he was in.

Yeah, okay, so Lance was checking him out.

“I didn’t do anything to you.”

Usually people ask what they did wrong, not claim they didn’t do anything. This guy was obnoxious.

Lance ignored what he said and asked, “You got into fighter class?” Not that he really needed an answer to that. He knew.

Keith gave him a wary look and crossed his arms, “I did.”

“Well, congratulations,” he said with not a hint of sincerity in his voice.

“Thank you?”

Lance nodded and turned to walk away. “Enjoy it while it lasts.” Then he really did walk away.

“I… will?” he hears Keith respond in confusion.

That was pretty adorable actually. It was supposed to be a threat and Keith didn’t get the hint. Lance shook his head. _No, don’t go there, Lance. Remember, we don’t like him._

Lance continued walking and shoving his way through the crowd of people for a while. He attempted to look for Allura again, but had no such luck. He shot down the worriment the second it emerged. It’s Allura he’s talking about here. She can handle herself just fine.

In the end, Lance was left to sulk at an empty table with an equally empty glass of nunvil. That’s how Hunk found him too.

“Want to talk about what that was all about earlier?” he asked once he hauled over a chair and sat down.

Lance pouted and played with the rim of the glass. “No.”

Hunk nodded and signaled over a waiter to them, grabbing two new glasses. He wordlessly handed it to Lance and they both drank in silence for the rest of the party.

Allura finally came back once the decorations were being torn down by the staff. She was giddy and tittering up a storm. She couldn’t stop talking about Prince Lotor, mentioning how great and polite he was every minute.

Lance smiled and nodded along with her praises. Letting out laughs and shoving her when she flushed and got embarrassed.

For once, Allura didn’t notice and he was able to fool her. His chest ached again, the fathom pain coming back and slowly expanding as the night ended. A bitter taste was left on his tongue that he passed off as the nunvil he drank.

He blamed Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, wish these chapters weren't so short, but the time limit is a bit conflicting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goodbye to Altea and hello to Motherland!
> 
> Lance may or may not find someone else he dislikes... and to think he was a friendly guy *sighs*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * means that there are notes at the end of the chapter pertaining to what it's attached to.

_Word of the meeting between King Drax of Altea and Emperor Zarkon of Daibazaal had spread worldwide. It was arranged that all leaders would also be attending, King Xarl of Balmera, King Lubos of Olkarion, Queen Elizabeth II of Earth*, and Empress Tsujah of Avia. Empress Honerva attended as well, her place right by her king._

_It was agreed that the meeting would take place in a neutral territory that is unclaimed and isolated from all parties. Guards were stationed in all corners, protecting the area from any possible dangers as the great leaders met in the conference room. It was in a building constructed right in the middle of the neutral grounds. Once everything was set in place, they began._

_Emperor Zarkon had been… difficult. He kept shooting down all of the conditions King Drax placed out on the table. However, he agreed to those of the other leaders easily enough, but with the Altean it was a stubborn no. The tension in the room rose with every second that passed by. It was clear to see the reason why Altea and Daibazaal have not been allies for centuries._

_Empress Honerva was not supposed to speak up unless spoken too. Her presence was enough, or so King Drax had told her, but she couldn’t just stay quiet. If the meeting ended with no treaty signed then this meeting would have been for naught._

_She spoke up when it did not seem to being heading in King Drax’s favor. Her king was not pleased, but he did not stop her either. She began with an elaboration on the benefits to which the Galra would receive. She figured this might not have been enough to convince the Emperor yet, but she was prepared to stand her ground either way, for the good of Altea._

_Emperor Zarkon took one look at her and, after a pregnant pause, agreed._

* * *

A proper farewell, full of tears and hugs, was smothered onto Lance with every step he took towards the aircraft prepared for his departure. His family fuzzed over him, asking him a bajillion questions and reminding him of things they didn’t need to tell him as he was already an adult (brush your teeth, sleep early, play nice with the other cadets) Even the King refused to let go of his princess, asking her once more if she’s certain she didn’t forget anything.

Allura and Lance weren’t the only ones that had been accepted into the garrison. A handful of Alteans were scattered around the waiting area, families also surrounding them and taking last minute pictures.

Their course didn’t start for another week, but cadets were to register in advance as they had to be assigned rooms and settle into the new dorm life. Lance was excited for the rooms most of all. He made sure to send in his request on time. He had talked with Hunk in advance before he went back to Balmera and they both agreed to put each other into their requests.

Lance frowns internally at the thought of Hunk. It was unfortunate that the Balmera had to postpone his wedding as he would be away from Shay for a while. Hunk, though, had promised her it would be the first thing they’d do when he gets time off. Lance doubts Shay minded, though. They’ve been together for a long time and she understood how important this was to Hunk.

Lance had personally watched it himself during the times he was able to visit them and vice versa. He’d seen the way Shay always supported Hunk and how she’d encourage him when he was a bit unsure about something. She always stood by his side no matter what.

Then they fell in love and a few years later Hunk finally (with Lance’s persistent shoving) proposed to her during Balmera’s annual Crystal Ceremony. He remembers seeing the way Hunk had cried in such an ugly way halfway through his proposal which in turn caused Shay to cry and collapse in his arms as she accepted. Even Lance shed a few tears too. Hell, just about everyone ended up in a crying mess.

Lance smiles at the memory. _I want that._ He thinks as he says his final goodbyes and heads towards the powered up aircraft with his carryon bags. He wants to have a beautiful proposal like that. He wants to devote his life to the one person that’s always been at his side and supported him along the way.

King Alfor finally lets go of Allura and, with a finger pointing at Lance, he tells him to take care of his daughter. Allura groans and stands beside Lance, saying that in any case she’d be the one taking care of him.

The flight attendants call out a warning and King Alfor wishes them good luck—however, not without reminding Allura once again to give him a call when she lands. She rolls her eyes and just grabs Lance’s arm, pulling him towards the aircraft where cadets were starting to pile into already. The flight attendants greet them and take them over to the private section they’ll be staying in.

Once everyone puts their bags away and secure into their seats, the pilot announces that they’ll be taking off shortly. Lance sighs and shifts around in his seat, getting into a comfortable position. He hears a small laugh at his side. He turns to see Allura messaging someone on her communication device.

“Your dad?” he guesses.

Allura shakes her head and smiles, a light blush spreading across her cheeks. “Lotor.”

Lance doesn’t miss the lack of honorifics. This infatuation was lasting longer than he expected. It was… concerning.

How could he dream of that beautiful proposal or of that special someone? How could he if their eyes weren’t looking?

Allura puts the device away, throws the blanket at her lap over her shoulders, and settles further into her seat. Lance isn’t able to think of something to say and the aircraft finally starts to move. He turns away and stares out the window instead.

At some point, Lance had fallen asleep. His instincts, or something, wake him up before the landing and he’s able to see an Avian’s view of the Galaxy Garrison. It’s enormous and surrounded by the vast desert.

It’s exciting—and a bit nerve wrecking—to think that they were currently in the neutral territory, Motherland, where the alliance between the seven great leaders was formed. The building in which the leaders signed is now the Galaxy Garrison; the establishment where cadets and officers are stationed for the safety and greater good of their world.

Lance was in awe as the aircraft tilted slightly and they were able to see the sky islands hovering higher up where the flying course for the Avians was located. Thinking about what type of technology the Avians used to keep these islands in the air made hurt his brain too much. Technology and magic were far too complicated for his understanding. He chose to admire them from down below instead.

The aircraft landed and Lance grabbed his things from the overhead bin, getting Allura’s as well. He handed her bags over, but the princess was once more looking at the communication device and typing something on it.

“Lotor?” he guesses again, this time getting it right.

Allura shook her head, though, and grabbed the bag, placing the device inside it as she did. “My father.”

Or not.

Lance sighed and a flight attendant came into the private area. She greeted them by honorifics and led them to the exit once they were ready to go. There they are greeted by a familiar looking Altean with orange hair and a perfectly-shaped mustache.

Allura gasped and dropped her bag on the floor. “Coran!” she shouted and ran over to tackle-hug the older Altean. He smiled and greeted her even as he nearly tripped over.

Lance grinned wide and walked over to them (yes, he picked up the abandoned bag.) He gave Coran a hug as well when Allura released him of her crushing love. “It’s been a while since your last visit, Coran. How have you been?”

Coran let out a hearty laugh and said, “I’ve been splendid! We’ve been quite busy lately, but nothing out of the ordinary.” He turned and signaled them to follow along. “Come, there’s a meeting you two need to attend.”

“A meeting? Will we not be going to the welcoming ceremony with the rest of the recruits?” Allura questioned.

“I’m afraid not. The garrison is holding this meeting mandatory to all the new recruits who are nobles.”

Lance interests peeked then. “Will Hunk be there then?”

“Yes, of course.” Coran said with a slight laugh.

“What will this meeting be about?” Allura questioned.

Coran hummed and played with the tip of his mustache, “To put it short, since the Galaxy Garrison is in neutral grounds, there will not be any privileges for nobles. Privileges will be held according to ranks instead.”

Allura and Lance nodded. It made sense.

“Oh,” Coran takes a glance at them, “And you will not be allowed to wear symbols of authority.”

Lance smirks, “So no crowns.” He looks over to see the princess frowning and protectively holding onto her crown.

“Precisely, Earl Lance. Apologies, Princess Allura.”

Allura grumbles, “They won’t be confiscated, right?”

Coran shakes his head, “No, but you will be on house arrest if you refuse to follow the rules.”

She lets out a frustrated groan, to which Lance laughs at. He lifts his hand and pretends as if he’s going to snatch it off her head. Allura’s attention was too keen, though, and she instantly zaps him with her magic.

Lance yelps and pulls his hand back fast. He rubs the injured spot, not that it even hurt, and gives Allura his best betrayed expression. She, in turn, sticks her tongue out at him and crosses her arms.

Their fun ended when Coran announced their arrival to the meeting room. Which looked awfully familiar and a lot like something he’d seen during his studies.

Allura gasps softly, “Is this the conference room?”

Coran smiles, “It is.”

“Wait,” Lance starts when he remembers where he’s seen it from, “Like _the_ conference room. Where the seven great leaders signed?”

Coran looks at the room with great pride. “The very room.”

Wow, that was pretty amazing. They get to go inside on their first day at the garrison.

“Well, in you two go!” Coran says and opened one side of the double doors. “Everyone’s waiting inside.”

After their initial shock wears off Allura and Lance give each other a reassuring look and walk in. “I’ll be outside to assist you when the meeting ends. Have fun!” Coran says and the doors close behind them.

Right of the bat, Lance could tell that all of these cadets were nobles. Other than the obvious crowns and jewels, they had a superior presence omitting from them. They huddled in small groups and stared at others like they were insects. Lance would have felt awfully intimidated if it weren’t for the firm look Allura was giving right back to those who stared at them. That’s a princess for you.

Ignoring them all, Lance scanned the room and his eyes locked onto yellow-colored eyes, grayish brown skin, and very bumpy arms. Then, they locked onto purple eyes, black hair, and black wings.

Lance was contemplating if he was really going to subject himself to sitting close to that guy for Hunk. He saw another empty area and mentally apologized to Hunk. He’ll just sit with Allura over there.

However, the princess seemed to have other plans and she headed over to where the Balmeran and Avian sat. Lance tried to use telepathy and tell her to not sit there, but of course, he didn’t have that so it didn’t work.

Allura took a seat next to him and then waved Lance over. He sighed and walked over, sitting down next to her with an irritated huff.

“Good to see you again, Hunk. How’s Shay?” she asked.

“Oh, she’s fine. A bit sad, but fine.”

Allura nodded and then looked to the Avian sitting next to him. “Hello, I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Princess Allura of Altean.” She extended her hand out for the Avian.

Lance half expected the Avian to either ignore her or turn down the hand, but he was surprised once more. The Avian gave her a small smile and shook her hand.

“Prince Keith,” he replied. Who knew the guy had a nice smile?

Allura perked up at his name. “Oh, as in the younger brother of King Takashi?”

The Avian seemed to beam at that and nodded, “Yes, that’s correct.”

Lance tuned out the conversation and slouched over the seat with his arms crossed. Why was Keith being nice all of a sudden? He couldn’t have acted this way when Lance had talked to him the other day?

 _I was kind of rude to him, though._ Tuh tuh tuh! Keith was the one who started it. He did—

Someone suddenly pinched the tip of his right ear. Lance yelped and jerked away, grabbing his ear and turning to see who dared to do such a thing.

Hunk raised an eyebrow and jerked his head over to the Avian sitting next to him. It was a clear sign to talk to him.

Lance gave him an ‘are you crazy’ look and shook his head furiously from side to side.

Hunk responded with a ‘I’m serious. Talk to him.’

‘I will not.’ Lance pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes in defiance.

‘Lance.’

‘Nope, not listening.’

‘Do it now, Lance. Or I swear—’

“Hunk, why are you making faces,” Allura asked in confusion as she had front row seat from facing that side to talk to Keith.

“Absolutely no reason at all!” Lance replied in a very loud voice to drown out whatever Hunk was beginning to say. He pretended to not notice the glare the Balmeran was giving him.

He did, however, notice the curious look from the Avian. Their eyes locked together and the intensity of those purple eyes had Lance turning away fast. That did not happen often. Lance could usually hold his own ground and rarely turned away first.

There was something about them, though, that Lance couldn’t quite put into words.

The conference room filled up and last of the cadets finally made it inside. As Coran had said, the meeting was about the lack of privileges they’ll be having. A couple of cadets had the nerve to protest and question why they would be treated as equals among the common class. It was a longer meeting than was necessary, but once it ended the instructors had the keys and dorm placements ready for everyone.

Lance and Hunk got a room together (Room 204!) and the Altean couldn’t be happier.

“Keith Kogane. You didn’t request a roommate and so you’ll be with the other Avian in this room, James Griffin. Your room is 208.”

The clear disgust on Keith’s face was marvelous. Lance _can_ be happier apparently.

The James guy stood up and protested, “What, this guy? Seriously? I can’t have another roommate?”

Lance smiled at the Avian with brown hair that was slicked back on one side. He likes this guy already.

The instructor shrugged, “Species will be roomed together if there isn’t a request.”

“Oh, come one! Anyone else will do. Just room me with the defected Altean or something.” James continued in a scowl as he pointed to Lance.

The smile was whipped off his face and in its place was a pretty ugly frown. Okay, so scratch that. He didn’t like the James guy. Are all Avians this way?

“You share the room with Kogane. End of discussion.” The instructor then read off someone else’s name. James made a frustrated sound and stomped out of the conference room, the brown feathers on his wings ruffled up in distress.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Keith muttered under his breath and rubbed his temples in slow circles. Hunk patted his shoulder as a consolation.

Well, at least he can still enjoy Keith’s despair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I was originally going to use a generic name for the Queen, but I like this better.  
> Can you imagine it, though? Queen Elizabeth II sitting in a room full of aliens? (or species as they are called in this story)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day of classes are here and Lance gets familiar with his luck.
> 
> He also gets a little familiar with Keith's big ol' wings.

_There were many disputes and disagreements along the way. There were many times were it was believed the alliances would fall apart. It had been challenging to get on common grounds with them all. Even so, the six great leaders continued striving, and worked together for the one thing they could all agree on; protecting their planet._

_Empress Honerva had to put aside her craving to uncover more Altean secrets as her king ordered her to build a weapon; a strong weapon to defend against the dangers roaming in the universe. She argued at first that their new and improved crafts and weaponry were more than enough to defend them, but the King was stubborn. This weapon grew to be her hardest task yet._

_For the next few years Empress Honerva stayed in Motherland to build this weapon. She had many failures and there were many times she wanted to give it all up to go back to her country, but the faith and hope of the world held kept her trying over and over again._

_She had the help of many, though. The great leaders, from time to time, visited her with their men and offered a helping hand in the project as well. In the years that passed, the leaders grew close and they all became somewhat as friends._

_It had left everyone astounded when King Drax of Altea and Emperor Zarkon of Daibazaal were the ones who were most regularly seen in the Motherland. The two leaders, after many forced gatherings and strained conversations, had let go of their indifferences towards each other and found that they weren’t such bad company after all. Their friendship even benefitted the work to which Empress Honerva had. King Drax’s knowledge had filled in certain blanks in her reports and Emperor Zarkon’s men had helped with the larger and heavier equipment._

_The defender of their world was finally coming along._

* * *

Lance wasn’t sure which of the two he had; fortune or misfortune.

Out of his four classes Allura was in three of them. That was very fortunate since not being able to see her was one of his biggest concerns when he wasn’t accepted as a fighter pilot. The misfortunate part of this? Keith was in two of them.

His happiness to finding her beautiful face when he walked through the front door of his history course was flung out the window at seeing the Avian sitting down next to her. He had thought, _maybe it’s just one class_. Until Allura compared their schedules and it turns out that all three of them had the next class together again. The combat training course.

Lance did not want to be reminded of the entrance exam again. He did not want to remember the fathom pain or the dread as he lost. He didn’t want to remember the way the quintessence felt when it shifted through his body and to the tips of his fingers as it landed upon the black feathers they were laced through.

He wanted it to disappear. He didn’t want to think about why those purple eyes held confusion as if he didn’t know why he had won.

 _Well, at least I’ll have Allura_. He had thought.

Come next class, Allura spots a particular Galra and Lance is being ditched along with Keith. Of fucking course Lotor had to be here as well. Lance didn’t even know he was going to the garrison, much less that, according to his uniform, he’s a second year here.

He was really close to sitting in a seat as far away from Keith, but the guy was sporting on a deep scowl so he plopped himself down right next to the Avian with a big huff (He _had_ to, okay?)

The surprised and irritated expression he gave Lance was worth it all. However, the contentment he felt didn’t last long when the instructor had announced:

“Get familiar with the person sitting next to you because that’ll be your partner for the rest of the year.”

The fathom pain was brought to the surface. Lance stood up and attempted to sit somewhere else, because anyone was better than having Keith as his partner for a whole year.

“Sit back down, McClain. You’re not allowed to switch seats.” Lance wanted to protest, but the firm look she gave him left his mouth awfully dry. He sat back down with a heavy groan.

For the rest of the class the instructor mainly just gave out a debriefing to what they’ll be doing here. They’ll be learning about different types of weapons and training how to use them, learning tactics and strategies for combat, doing lots of hand-to-hand training, and a whole bunch of other stuff that would be of use when in combat.

Keith was quiet the whole time. He didn’t make a sound other than the occasional ruffling as he shifted and moved his wings to a different position. Not even when Lance had unconsciously gotten too close and accidentally elbowed Keith’s wings. He didn’t respond when Lance muttered out an apology before scooting further away. He didn’t even so much as glance at Lance.

Lance had looked over to Allura a couple times during the class, hoping that he could communicate his despair with her, but the princess was far too engrossed in the instructor and the hushed whispers Lotor was saying beside her.

Lance was already dreading this class. He could only hope that his next would be better. It was an Altean course. So at least here he knew he’d be with Allura and no Keith.

However, he didn’t count on Lotor being here as well. He was extremely confused until Allura had let him know that Lotor was, in fact, half Altean. What are the chances?

Lance got to sit next to Allura this time, but with Lotor at her other side. It was an uncomfortable class.

Lance never thought the day where he’d be the third wheel would come, but here he is. He would look at her from time to time, but Allura never looked back. She wasn’t seeing him. Her eyes trained to Lotor with a tenderness he’d never seen on her before. Lance could only watch as she drifted further away from his sight.

The day ended with his cargo class… with the same instructor who had given the entrance exam.

He was right. Mr. Iverson is a complete dick who never failed to mention his defectiveness every time he failed to do something on the simulator.

The pain was growing at a faster rate.

“I’m telling you, Hunk!” Lance exclaimed once he was in the safety of his room, “I don’t think I can survive this year!”

“You don’t know that, Lance. It was only the first day.”

Lance huffed, “First days are supposed to be fun not terrible.”

Hunk hummed as he tweaked with a small piece of what looked like a communication device. “So, Keith, huh?”

The Altean narrowed his eyes at the Balmeran, “What about him?”

“Why don’t you like him?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lance said. Hunk gave him a disbelieving look. “What? I don’t,” he continued.

“He really is a great guy once you get to know him.” Lance scoffed at that. Hunk sighed and placed the piece of metal down on his bed. “He is. Look, I don’t know happened between the two of you, but you should give it another chance.”

Lance frowned and crossed his arm, “Hunk, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Just try it. You have two classes with Keith, right? So just try talking to him,” Hunk said. “You don’t want to have enemies during you’re first year at the garrison, do you?”

Lance rolled his eyes, “He’s not my enemy. He’s like my… rival or something.”

“Yeah, I don’t think that’s clear to him.” Hunk said with a raised brow.

Before Lance could respond, an announcement came on for all lights to go out. Hunk warned Lance that this wouldn’t be the last time they’d talk about this. Lance just waved his hand in dismissal and tucked himself inside his covers.

Lance knew Hunk was right. He knew he had to talk to Keith. If they were going to be partners in their combat training course for the rest of the year then they should take the instructor’s advice and get familiar with each other. Even if Lance’s pride hated it, he had to admit he was in the wrong for the way he treated Keith in the beginning. It was all just petty agitation to losing the match and the guy had nothing to do with it.

He lost because he wasn’t any good and because he’s incapable of using his magic correctly.

Lance sighed and rubbed the sore spot on his chest. Now is not the time to be thinking of things like this _. I’ll talk to him first thing tomorrow._

Lance had gotten up super early so that he’d make it to his history class before anyone else and before Keith. He sat down and after giving himself a mini pep talk, Keith walked in.

“Good morning, Keith!” Lance had said in the best welcoming voice he could muster.

The Avian had looked at him like he was crazy and said, “Uh, good morning?”

“Beautiful day today, right?”

Keith raised an eyebrow and looked out the window, which was gray and dark. “It’s raining.”

Lance smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I like the rain. Don’t you?”

“No. Makes it difficult to fly,” he responded dryly and took his seat. Lance didn’t miss the way he purposely left a chair between them.

Lance felt his composure fading. He wanted to scream. What the hell was Hunk on? Keith was not friendly. In fact, he was completely unapproachable and moody.

It didn’t get better. Lance continued trying to strike up a conversation with Keith, but it was hard when the guy continuously struck it back down with one-worded responses and wordless grunts. Then at one point, when the class had gone to the training deck to do basic exercises, Keith had gotten fed up and snapped at him when they were both walking to their section for stretching.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Why are you talking to me all of a sudden?”

Lance smiled and innocently replied with, “What do you mean? I’m trying to get to know you.” He could feel it, though. This was never going to work out between Lance and Keith.

“Why? You made it very clear that you didn’t like me on Altea.” Keith growled out and crossed his arms. If his expression and tone wasn’t a message enough, then the way his black wings, which were originally curled in and small, fattened out as the feathers stuck out in agitation.

It was intimidating to be on the receiving end of. It sort of reminded him of the entrance exam, but at least they weren’t arched and stretched out in a threat posture.

Lance played it off. “Oh, what, that? I had too many glasses of nunvil.”

Keith stared at him for a few long seconds. Searching for the clear lie Lance pulled from his ass. Then he shook his head and walked closer to Lance with a stern expression. Lance had a passing thought that the guy was going to hit him or something.

The Avian stopped right in front of him and leaned closer. His voice deep, low, and gravelly, “Listen, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, but I’m trying to pass these classes so I can get my pilot license. I don’t care if you’re my partner, if you get in my way I will make you regret it.” And there’s the threat posture. “So, don’t get in my way.”

Even though he was shorter his wings reached over and towered high above Lance. His jet black feathers spiked outward like needles.

“Kogane, McClain. What’s going on over there?” the instructor asked from across the training deck.

Keith gave him one last glare before he backed off and lowered his wings. “Nothing, just doing our stretches,” he replied.

Yeah, that was some stretch.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The garrison isn't taking it easy on Lance, but he continues pushing through it anyway!
> 
> Then a little something interesting happens in his combat training course.

_The weapon still had a ways to go, but Empress Honerva knew this would be her greatest work yet. It was difficult to tell what the weapon would do exactly as it was being made with the combination of all known technologies in the world. With Balmeran crystals at its core, basic structure of the Olkari, defenses and shields like the Human technology, hovering force fields from the Avians, armament like the Galran’s, and the Altean’s quintessence linking it all together._

_Empress Honerva was beginning to notice that, rather than a weapon, she was building a machine. Five machines. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but one day an idea—or maybe it was a vision—had come to her out of the blue. For some reason she wasn’t sure what these machines were capable of even though she was the one behind the blueprints._

_The great leaders didn’t question her once. She noticed the way they had tremendous faith on her. She noticed that she was beginning to become an equal. In fact, the one who had begun to treat her in such a way was Emperor Zarkon, not her king._

_It was strange. Empress Honerva had grown up hearing stories of the Galra being brutal and hostile, but with every interaction she had with Emperor Zarkon she grew more and more puzzled. He was far from what the rumors told. He was loud and overdramatic, but had a soft and gentle touch. Empress Honerva had remembered the way he had screamed in fright when her cat, Kova, rubbed against his leg. It was humorous to see._

_There are times where Empress Honerva will get so worked up with her job that she goes on a long rant in front of the great leaders. Then when she calmed down Emperor Zarkon would stare at her for a handful of seconds before loudly exclaiming that he had to leave._

_He was… intriguing to her._

* * *

A mere two weeks had passed, but he was already wishing to the heavens for the year to end.

Lance was on a constant whirl of emotions. His mornings started with aggravation as he awoke with burning eyelids at reveille. His was head pounding and bashing against his skull, advising him that he did not get enough sleep after having been restless the night before. His mood only worsened at seeing the neatly made and very empty bed across from his.

He already knew it would be another terrible day if he couldn’t get a daily dose of Hunk in the morning.

His first class wasn’t that bad, though.  He, at least, got to sit with Allura and talk to her in the moments where the instructor wasn’t looking. Keith was there too, but Lance could mainly ignore him as the guy didn’t even talk much to begin with. He only spoke when Allura asked to look at his notes when she didn’t catch something. Other than that, Keith just listened to the instructor and fidgeted with his communication device every once in a while.

The second class was where things spiraled downward. Their instructor didn’t give many lessons. She would give out a brief description of a technique or weapon, before they all headed to the training deck so she could give out a better demonstration in the open space.

Lance would walk out of the lockers after changing out of his uniform and head straight to the section he shared with Keith. He’d find the guy out on the mat already doing his stretches. Keith would look so disappointed when he noticed him walking over, as if he was hoping Lance wouldn’t show up.

If that wasn’t bad enough already, the instructor, who had caught onto their behavior early on, would go extra hard on them and constantly used them as an example to the others. She would show them what would happen if the rest didn’t trust and get along with their partner. Long story short, they would basically die in real combat.

She would constantly reprimand them, telling them they needed to work on their teamwork. She would advise them to spend some time outside of classes, saying it will benefit them.

Lance tried, okay? Well, he had—maybe once—asked Keith if he wanted to grab some lunch with him, but the guy had scoffed in his face and continued walking. So, yeah, he never asked again. He was not about to force himself on someone who didn’t want his company when he could spend that time with Hunk or Allura.

In their combat training course, however, Lance did attempt many times to get on Keith’s good side, but it was a lot harder than everyone else thought. Keith is very stubborn and impulsive. He refuses to listen to Lance and goes off on his own a lot which often leads to the two of them failing the simulation.

They could do the individual tests perfectly fine, but not the paired ones. Lance was irritated that he was getting a failing grade on them when it was all Keith’s fault. He would argue that if Keith didn’t do this, if he would’ve listened, if he didn’t go off and do whatever he felt like. The instructor would shut him right up, though. She would remind him that paired tests were shared grades and if Keith really was the one who was in the wrong then Lance, as his partner, should learn to be more firm and take control of the situation being given.

Lance always left that classes with a bitter feeling and it didn’t get better as the day went on. His next class was just as hellish.

Allura and Lotor were stuck together like glue right since the beginning of the combat training course and it didn’t change with their Altean course. Lance often felt like he was intruding when he sat with them.

The two were so close to each other that Lance was getting awfully suspicious that there might be something going on between them already. Allura would get embarrassed and claim that they were just friends, but Lance didn’t fully believe it. He half expected them to start kissing or at least hold hands, but only teasing and laughs were shared between the two.

Lance didn’t know how to deal with this. Allura had never been this serious about someone before. She never had a crush on someone for this long either. It was all new and he didn’t know what he was supposed to be feeling half the time.

Cargo class was the cherry on top. He absolutely hated the class and he hated the instructor. He didn’t even want to think about it. It was just… terrible.

The only thing that raised his spirits was his sister, Veronica. He would go and see her for a few minutes after his classes had ended. She could never stay long, though. The garrison was getting ready for their next mission and Veronica was their analyst, so they were constantly calling her.

Lance, at least, got to rant about his emotions a little and Veronica soothed it over by making him laugh really hard. So even though their meeting was brief, he left with his chest feeling a bit lighter.

Then, of course, Lance got to see Hunk at the end of the day. The Balmeran never mentioned the situation with Keith again and for that Lance was appreciative of.

Hunk would walk into their dorm with a plate full of something that smelled absolutely incredible. It reminded him of home and would ease the homesickness he got from seeing his sister. Hunk would claim that he happened to stumble upon an Altean recipe while roaming the kitchen, but Lance knew that the big guy had noticed how down he was feeling.

Night would come and Lance tossed and turned every single second. His head wouldn’t shut down; it kept on thinking about the day, his classes, Allura, Keith, Lotor, his sister, and his family. It kept thinking about what would have happened if he did a certain thing, or if he didn’t do that thing.

Come the middle of the night, and his head finally settled down and he was able to fall asleep. Then at reveille Lance’s eyes snapped open, feeling as if he had shut them only moments ago.

Then the day would repeat itself.

Or, at least, it should have.

Their instructor had announced that she would be doing things a little differently today. Instead of the usual training session in the simulator they were going to be fighting against each other.

“This will be graded so you do have to try your best to complete the objective.” Which was working together with your partner and defeating the opposing teams. Lance was nervous. They did terribly on the simulators so how were they supposed to win against actual people. People who are doing much better in this partner thing, by the way.

The instructor took them to a different training deck this time. It was huge and there was greenery everywhere. It looked like a jungle except it was inside the building. Some of the branches were curved inward to create a convenient finding spot. There were trees and boulders everywhere; hiding areas that you wouldn’t be able to see if you didn’t go around them. The place was a maze.

The instructor gave everyone half an hour to get ready and into their places. Keith had immediately walked off and would have probably completely disappeared through the trees if Lance didn’t run after him.

“Wait up!” Lance panted out as he climbed over logs and crouched under thick branches. “We have to work together.”

Keith didn’t stop and continued maneuvering through the jungle. How is he able to move so fast with those wings of his?

“Keith, I said wait!” Still, the Avian didn’t listen and he continued on. Lance quickened his pace, not wanting to lose sight of his partner. “Can you—just wait a—”

Lance let out a loud and frustrated sound before pushing his way forward (definitely getting a couple nicks and scratches) and grabbing the first thing his hands were able to reach, which were wings. Lance should probably not be doing that. It was probably incredibly rude to grab a wing, just like touching Altean marks were, but at that moment he couldn’t care less. Keith was being a dick and Lance had to be firm like the instructor said.

Keith stumbled to a stop, turned around with a lightning speed that definitely gave him whiplash and gave him a murderous look. “Let go.” Yesterday Lance would have backed off, but not this time. He didn’t know where all of this confidence was coming from, but he wasn’t about to complain. He has had enough of Keith’s attitude.

He shook his head, “Not until you listen to me.” Lance was surprised by how steady and firm his voice was. Keith wasn’t though.

“Lance, I’m warning you.” Lance hasn’t met many Avians in his life, but he’s sure they didn’t make that deep rumbling sound coming from Keith’s throat. “Let. Go.” And he’s sure they didn’t have those sharp canines peeking out from Keith’s lips as they parted and curled to a snarl.

The one thing keeping him from yielding was the balls of steel he magically developed. Maybe the heavens had taken pity on him and granted him the courage to deal with this bullshit. That or he was going to be given an early death by the hands of the Avian.

“I will if you listen to me.” Not once did his voice waver and honestly, Lance was pretty impressed with himself.

Maybe that’s what made Keith hesitant and give him a look of contemplation, Lance’s words finally seeming to have sunk in. The scowl softened to a frown and his lips pressed back together tightly. A moment passed before Keith sighed in resignation and said, “Alright, fine.”

Lance let out a breath he didn’t know when he had started holding, his heart seeming to have finally caught up with the situation, thumped against his chest a little too fast. Then he let go of the wing, which he realized he was actually grabbing onto unnecessarily hard. He muttered an apology as Keith pulled his wing close and soothed out the disturbed feathers, the frown still deep in his features. “Well?” Keith questioned after Lance didn’t say more. “I’m listening.”

Right, he had to talk now. How much time did they have left? “You, um,”

Shit, where were his balls of steel now?

“You need to stop doing,” Lance moved his hands awkwardly through the air, “this.”

Keith leaned back against the trunk of a tree and folded his arms, a brow raised in a prefect arch. “And what is that exactly?”

“It’s, you know,” he fumbled over his words, “the way you, like, never listen to me when we’re supposed to be working together and always go off on your own.”

“Not my fault you fall behind.” Keith shrugged nonchalantly in an assholey way that really pissed Lance off.

“No,” Lance snapped, his voice rising in pitch from how irked he was getting. “ _You_ never communicate with me or tell me what you’re going to do. You can’t expect me to magically know what you’re planning.”

Keith’s frown deepened more just then. “No, but I do expect you to be literally helping me out magically.”

“What?” He didn’t quite get what that meant.

Keith tsked and looked away, an annoyed wrinkle forming between his brows. “I just don’t get why you never use your magic. Can’t you like snap your fingers or something while I lead the way and push forward?”

“What? That doesn’t—magic doesn’t— _what?_ ” Because honestly, what?

The guy huffs, “I see Allura using it all the time and before anyone knows it she’s already cleared the level in the simulator.”

Lance doesn’t get to express how utterly confused he is anymore when the instructor’s voice comes out from the coms and gives out a three minute warning. Where had the time gone? Oh, yeah, Keith.

The Avian cursed and looked around. He glanced up at the nearby tree, paused, looked at Lance, and then walked backwards a bit.

“What are you doing?” Lance asked, because he did not like where this was going.

Keith barely gave him another look before crouching, spreading his wings wide. “Climbing.” And then he was jumping. His wings making a harsh flap the moment his feet got off the ground, propelling him further up than his jump could and his arms shot out to grab the lowest branch of the tree.

The Avian was successful and locked his arms over the branch securely before pulling himself up. Once he was firmly sitting on it, he looked down at Lance and extended his arm to him. “Come on.”

“What?” Were they seriously going to climb a tree and hide there?

“Hurry, grab my hand. We don’t have a lot of time”

He shook his head and backed away, “You can’t be serious. Keith, I don’t know how to climb a tree. What if I fall or—”

“Lance,” Keith’s tone silenced him, “Shut up and trust me.”

He didn’t know what it was about that one phrase, but Lance felt that he really could trust him. And so, he jumped up and grabbed the hand he had rejected the first time they met. The Avian grunted at the added weight and used both his hands to pull the Altean up, his wings hooked around the branch and tree to prevent himself from falling off.

Lance was incapable of sitting straight on the branch and choice to hug the trunk of the tree for dear life. Keith rolled his eyes and stood up on it with such finesse it looked like he was in his element. Which, now that Lance thought about it, he probably was.

“Come on, we still got a few more to climb.” Keith prepared himself to jump again, but Lance grabbed onto his shirt, stopping him.

“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to climb all that! Can’t you just fly us both there?”

Keith gave him a stare that clearly translated as ‘you can’t be that stupid.’ “You’re too heavy for me to carry.” Okay, rude. “And we’ll never make it anyway. There’s too many branches and shit everywhere. I’ll get my wings caught up in them before we can even make it up.”

The instructor came on again and announced the start of the battle. Keith gave him one last glance before jumping up and climbing the next branch, then wordlessly held out his hand again. Lance looked around and at seeing no help was going to come his way, he groaned and grabbed Keith’s grab.

By the time they made it to a wary distance from the ground and still had a couple of shorter and thinner branches covering their heads, two teams have already been eliminated. Keith was sweaty and exhausted from all the jumping and carrying he had to do, Lance’s suit was ripped up in a few places and he was sure he scraped himself up pretty bad underneath. Lance was getting anxious. He didn’t know how they were going to win from hiding away in a tree like this.

“Keith, this isn’t going to work.” Lance said for the hundredth time.

Keith sighed—also for the hundredth time—and looked over at Lance with a face of annoyance. Before the guy could say anything, though, they heard ruffling and hushed murmurs from below.

There was a team there, two Humans. They were making their way around the fallen logs, constantly looking around, their guard up and bayards out and ready to transform at any second.

Lance heard a mechanic hiss and his head turned to the side to see Keith getting his own bayard out from the belt of his bodysuit. “What are you doing?” he whispered.

“Taking our chance,” he replied. Then he activated the bayard and it transformed into a bow. He pulled the string and aimed at them. Lance grabbed his arm in bewilderment.

“Don’t do that!” he nearly forgot to lower his voice from how worked up he was.

Keith pulled away from his grip and aimed at them again. “We’ll never make it past this class if we keep falling behind the paired assignments. So active your bayard and aim for the one on the right.”

“But—”

Keith looked at him and his deep purple eyes left Lance’s mouth awfully dry. “This is our chance to work together, Lance.” Lance looked at the two Humans who were still making their way through the obstacles with a bit of trouble.

He groaned and took out his bayard, it immediately activated into his sniper. He turned to give Keith a glare, but it fell when he saw the smirk the guy was portraying. His heart flipped a little. Just a little.

Lance turned back and aimed his sniper that the Human on the right. “Let’s do this, partner,” he grunted out. Keith made a noise of agreement and at his signal they both fired off.

The bayards are designed in a way that is incapable of actually hurting the opponent, but it will fire off like an actual weapon. So the bullet and arrow hit the Humans with precise speed and accuracy only to bounce off of them harmlessly.

They stared at the bullet and arrow that was now on the ground in confusion. Then the instructor came on and announced that they have been eliminated. The two left the scene, still very much confused and wondering where it had come from.

Lance laughed and deactivated his bayard to the default handle. “We did it!” he exclaimed and looked over to Keith. “We are a good team.”

Keith smiled a smile Lance had never seen him give to anyone before, not even to Hunk and Allura. A smile so soft he honestly felt honored to be on the receiving end of. He could feel the way his heart lunged up and fluttered as if it had grown wings of its own. Lance felt like he could actually soar through the sky right now.

It’s probably just the adrenaline.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance tries out something new and the results are incredible.
> 
> The after results, not so much.

_Empress Honerva could not believe her eyes when the five machines were finally completed. She had been there when they were mere scraps of metal and had been the one present throughout their whole development, but even so it still took away her breath to be gazing up at its completed version. She had asked King Lubos once more if he was sure. The Olkari, also awestruck as he followed her eyes, confirmed that the machines were indeed ready._

_When the rest of the great leaders met up to their urgent call, they too were in a similar state. They had all seen the blueprints and helped with the making of the machines, but seeing the finished project was breathtaking. They towered higher than any machine, looked mightier than any weapon, and took the form of lions fiercer anything they’ve seen before. Black, red, green, blue, and yellow._

_Emperor Zarkon had questioned Empress Honerva what these machines could do. She didn’t have an answer for that. Then something incredible happened. A vision, similar to what Empress Honerva had seen at the start of her project, was showed to her. By whom, she didn’t know. It showed the machines. It showed what they were capable of, what they formed, what they felt, what they were called, and who they chose._

_Empress Honerva’s magic could see it. She could see the way the quintessence radiated inside of them as if they were alive, as if they had been given a soul. She had a strange sensation, a feeling of sorts, telling her that all this had not been a mere coincidence. She had united the great leaders, had built these five machines. For a reason she had been at the center of it all._

_Once the vision ended Empress Honerva noticed how she had not been the only one to see it. The rest of the leaders had as well—except King Lubos, who was confused at their sudden excitement—and they were the ones who had been chosen by the lions._

_They were the paladins of Voltron: the legendary defender of their planet._

* * *

As soon as the excitement from their victory had cooled off, Lance and Keith were both attacked by none other than Allura and Lotor.

Allura had slashed her whip at the lower branches of the tree, effectively exposing them with the reduction of leaves. Then Lotor had tried to shoot them, but Lance had reacted quick enough to put up the shield built inside of the cuffs that was hooked to their suits. It was difficult to hold up, though, as the bullet’s reflector didn’t react with anything other than a person. He could feel the force hitting the shield with tremendous power and Lance’s fingers were beginning to slip from the trigger in the cuff. Even if logically he knew it wouldn’t hurt him if he were to let go, the feeling still caused a ton of warning signs to go off in his head.

“Keith!” he exclaimed, feeling the panic rising in his chest. “What are you doing? Help me!”

“I’m trying,” he grunted, fumbling with his bow as Lotor shot it, successfully disorienting his aim. The arrow missed by a long shot.

“Just use a gun or—” Lance yelped as the tree started to tremble and shake, nearly causing him to fall off. He looked down and saw that Allura had changed her whip to a sword. She was slashing at the trunk, trying to cut it down while they were being overwhelmed with Lotor’s shots.

Lance didn’t think that the sword would be enough to cut down a tree, but then it started to tilt. Honest to god, Lance thought he was going to die right then and there. That is, until Keith let out a curse and grabbed him by the arm. Lance wasn’t sure what the purpose of that was, but the sudden pull had him screeching and throwing himself on the Avian, his hands gripping tight and unyielding.

“Sto—Lance!” Keith growled out, trying to push the Altean away as he was getting thrown off balance.

Then they were really falling off the tree.

Except Keith’s instinct (thank the heavens) reacted immediately and he was unfolding his wings to its full span. They flapped vigorously in the air, trying to orientate the two. The extra weight was making them work overtime. The tree they had been on previously fell, though before it hit the ground it dissolved into a million pixels that quickly faded away.

“Stop moving so much!” Keith reprimanded, but Lance continued his struggle to adjust his hold as he started to slide off from the pull of gravity. His hands grabbed onto the fabric around the Avian’s midsection. He wanted to climb up more, but it was hard when the guy he was holding onto wasn’t even going to bother helping him out.

Lotor took advantage of their state and fired shots at them. Keith noticed, however, and swerved to the side fast and sharp, stopping short by another tree and hanging onto it. The movement had Lance shifting. His heart nearly jumped out of his throat when he almost slipped off, but Keith had acted right away, one of his hands letting go of the branch to grab the back of his suit.

“This isn’t going to work out Lance. We need to fight them straight on,” Keith grunted, struggling to keep this position. “I can’t carry the two of us for long and at this rate there’s no way we’ll get out of this as winners.”

“There’s no way we’ll get out of this as winners if we do fight them!” Lance would know. He’s had one too many spars with Allura and, if their scores where anything to go by, Lotor was pretty good himself.

“It’s better than hanging on until we either fall or get hit,” Keith said dryly. And Lance knew he was right, but it just felt safer to hang on like this and be as far away from that duo.

Then, as if on cue, another shot passed them and hit the bark of the tree. Keith gave him a look and Lance shook his head frantically. But the guy didn’t listen to him and let go of both the tree and Lance.

No, Lance did not shriek. He didn’t.

Though, he did see his life flash before his eyes as he plummeted to the ground. Well… he didn’t exactly plummet. They weren’t that far from the ground apparently, so it didn’t hurt too badly when he landed.

Keith, the reckless maniac, activated his bayard to a sword in midair and expanded his wings to glide himself towards Lotor, charging him straight on. The guy’s got guts.

He was a good fighter, but his moves were too reckless, too big and predictable. Lotor moved so gracefully it looked more like a dance. He read all of Keith’s moves, dodged them easily and met the sword with one of his own.

Lance wasn’t able to continue watching as Allura came at him fast. He got up from the ground and activated his bayard into a sword. “Allura, come on. Don’t do this.”

Allura grinned and twirled the sword in her hand. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Lance.” Then she was moving. Her movements sharp, her hits hard. Lance could barely keep track of her. Everything was happening so fast, but he knew he wasn’t going to last long.

He was never able to against her.

Lance looked over to the other two fighting. He was surprised to see that Keith was holding up his own against Lotor, who was beginning to struggle with Keith’s constant attacks. Then a sword came out of nowhere and nearly chopped off Lance’s head. He yelped and activated his shield before it hit him.

“Don’t get distracted,” Allura said.

The fight continued on and Lance could feel it in his bones, the way they sagged and dragged in exhaustion. Lance really wasn’t going to last long. Allura wasn’t even using her magic and she was already overpowering him. Wait…

Lance had a wild thought. He’d be regretting it later on, but at the moment Lance couldn’t care less.

He met Allura’s sword head on and twisted it at a sharp angle. With that out of the way he stepped forward and his other hand extended toward her, his hand illuminated with quintessence and his Altean cheek marks glowed dimly. Allura stared at him in confusion, not understanding what he was trying to do.

He had never tried this before, never had the passing thought. But it was worth a try.

Lance tried to picture it in his head first. He closed his eyes and took in his surroundings, focused on Allura’s presence in front of him. He focused on the wavering air behind him. He focused on the way their steps disturbed the fallen leaves. The way one of the two figures had a bulkier frame which he recognized that as Keith who had his wings spanned out. He focused on the way their presence inched closer, the way the thinner form was about a few feet behind him.

He focused his quintessence in that area. He let it wrap around the frame, let it hold on. He had never attempted this on something so large. He had tried with leaves, twigs, a cup of water—a book once, but never a person.

The ache coursed through his chest, starting at the center of his heart and expanding outwards. He could feel it beginning to inflict his lungs, clogging them up and making it difficult to breathe. This was definitely too much for him.

But he was determined.

Lance ignored the pain and opened his eyes, glad to see that Allura had not moved—only a couple of seconds had passed anyway. He turned around and in one fell swoop the quintessence on his hand connected with the one wrapped around Lotor. Then with all his might, he pulled over the half Galran and let gravity take care of the rest. Lotor was sent straight to Allura and they both fell down with the force of the hit.

Keith had stayed frozen in his place, his arm raised in a half swipe, his eyes wide and disbelieving as he stared at Lance. Even Lotor was in a similar state, still on the ground and not making any attempt to get back up. It was a good feeling, especially when Allura’s eyes shined with amazement and pride.

There was a hint of concern in them as well, though. To which Lance was trying his hardest to ignore since he didn’t want to think about the pain that was already spanning out and reaching his nerves.

Then Lotor had gotten up and activated his bayard once more. Keith had finally snapped out of his trance and stood next to Lance, ready to attack with him. And Allura’s eyes had faded, growing worried to the point of panic as she stared at him.

Keith was saying something. To him, he thinks. Keith was so close yet he sounded miles away. His head wasn’t able to comprehend the logic behind that. It hurt to wonder why everything sounded loud and silent at the same time. It hurt to think in general. Not that he was able to focus on anything anyway. Everything was aching; his eyes, his ears, his lungs, his limps, his whole body.

Lance looked to the side and Keith was there, staring right back him. His deep purple eyes searched, seeming to penetrate through to his soul. He mouthed something, words Lance couldn’t translate. He couldn’t tell what was going on around him, but he felt a sense of security as he held that gaze, even as he saw the confusion and the concern forming in them. Then Keith was turning his head to the side again and raising his bayard. Lance could see the way his body stiffened and tensed up, getting ready to charge forward.

He felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand on end as fear spiked and clawed at his chest, digging its way inside. He could feel the way his heart jumped to his throat, trying to escape, trying to find safety outside of its confines.

Lance had held onto Keith’s arm before he got too far. He trembled down to the sole of his shoe, nails digging into the sleeve of the suit as a thought passed by his head, saying that Keith could disappear and leave him alone at any moment.

Lance had never experienced this before. He never had a reaction so intense where he knew he should be feeling immense pain, but his head hadn’t registered it. All he could feel was the cold sweat trickling down his temple and his limbs falling numb and heavy. He didn’t know what was happening to him and he was terrified.

He knew he shouldn’t have used his magic like that. He knew he shouldn't have pushed his limits. He should have given to Allura’s blade.

Keith hadn’t pulled away like he feared, but he was confused. His mouth moving, face scrunched up in a question. Lance wanted to say something, but his lips were glued together and his muscles weren’t responding when he tried to give the orders.

Keith’s features twisted to panic and bewilderment, his mouth moving more urgently than before. Then he was shoved to the side by something behind him and then that something was prying Lance’s fingers off of his arm. Lance had momentarily panicked before a gentle touch was cradling his hand, the feeling so warm and safe that his heart edged down and he was able to breathe just a bit easier.

 _Allura._ He registered in his mind. Her beautiful face was also twisted in fear, eyes alarmed and frantically scanning him over. Lance decided he really hated that look on her. Allura was meant for smiles and laughs, her eyes were meant to hold fire and kindness. He didn’t like a frightened Allura. It didn’t go with her.

At one point Lance’s vision had blurred, speckled blacks and whites danced around. His mind got disorientated and he could feel himself being swallowed up. A drowning sensation coursed through his body as he was submerged into nothingness.

He lost all feeling of himself then.

And just as quickly as it had come, it faded away. His head was being ripped away from the void and everything came to him too fast. All the pain and emotions, he felt it all at once. He couldn’t tell if he was still standing or sitting or lying down. He couldn’t tell who was with him, who was holding him. He couldn’t tell if the screaming was coming from him or from someone else. He couldn’t tell if he was crying or just sweating. There was only one thing he know for sure; everything was hurting… so fucking much.

Hands grabbed his face and he opened his eyes—when had he closed them? A light so bright and beautiful came from those hands and he was entranced in it. Everything soothed over again and he went lax. He felt himself being held up by something or someone. He felt himself move and felt the careful touch through the hand placed on his back. He felt safe again.

Lance came to again at the hushed whispers and bright light. A different light this time, duller and not so beautiful. His face twisted that of disgust, noticing the faded taste of bile in his mouth. Lance blinked away the stars one by one and tried to turn his head to the side. It was difficult and took a lot of concentration that only made his throbbing head hurt even more.

He was in a room, very white and orange. He was on a bed, very small and stiff. He was with someone, very familiar and distracted.

Allura glanced up right then, probably a habit, and she gasped, immediately moving to his side. “Lance, you’re awake! How are you feeling?” she asked, as she wrapped her hands around one of his. He vaguely recognized it as the cradle when he was going through… what even was that?

Lance swallowed and winced from how dry and swollen his throat felt. He must have burned it when he had throwed up. “What happened?” he croaked out, his voice sounding hoarse and raspy.

The princess frowned and sat down on the bed. “You used your magic on Lotor. Do you remember that?” He nodded. “Well, you went into shock shortly after. I was able to stabilize your quintessence enough so that Lotor and I could take you to the garrison hospital.”

His eyes drooped a little, exhaustion making itself known even though he had just woken up. “The assignment?” he asked, not able to speak much.

“The instructor let us leave, but we’ll still be graded on it.” He nodded and said nothing more. He still had more questions, but his throat was hurting far too much.

Allura gave his hand a quick squeeze and got off the bed. “I’ll get the doctor for you,” she said and Lance watched as she walked out of the door. His eyes blurred, lids getting heavy until he finally gave in and shut them.

The doctor had spoken to Lance a few hours later, when he was able to finally able to quench his thirst and sit up properly on the bed. He talked to Lance about things he’d heard far too much throughout his life. Things he didn’t want to hear and didn’t want to be reminded of. The doctor warned him again and again, trying to drill it into his head. Lance listened with half a care.

“Mr. McClain, you need to understand the severely of your condition,” the doctor said, repeating the same thing just in a different way. “If it weren’t for Allura’s quick thinking in dealing with the shock then you could have gone into cardiac arrest.” Lance nodded, not ceasing his fidgeting with the corner of the white bed sheet.

 The doctor sighed and rubbed the crease etched at the bridge of his nose. “Mr. McClain, your body isn’t made to handle the output of quintessence. Using your magic will not change that fact. You’ll only cause yourself more harm and it’s very possible that if something like this happens again then you will be dealing with long-term—no, lifelong consequences.”

Lance still didn’t say anything, just continued frowning at the sheets. The doctor seemed to have lost his patience then. “Listen, you’re an adult. If you don’t want to listen to my—no, doctor’s orders—then you will be prescribed to see a therapist. I don’t know why you are not more concerned about your own health, but perhaps a therapist will be able to figure it out and help you with it.”

The doctor finally left and Lance was left with a conflicting feeling. It’s not that he doesn’t care. He just doesn’t want to be told that he can’t use his magic, much less to never use it again. It’s unfair. Why did he have to inherit such rare magic only for his body to reject it? It’s like thinking he was blessed only to find out he was actually cursed.

It was a torment, but it was his life.

His body was able to heal quickly and soon enough Lance was back to his classes in just two days. As soon as he entered his dorm Hunk had practically squeezed the air right out of him. He had visited Lance at the hospital plenty of times, but seeing him walking and not in bedrest had happy tears streaming down the Balmeran’s face.

Then in his history class Allura punched his shoulder, definitely leaving a bruise, and then pulled him in for a hug as well. Keith had even greeted him and said that he was glad Lance was feeling better. It was a bit surprising.

Allura had been more focused on him after what happened. Lance would have bathed in all the attention she was giving him, but he found himself giving her halfhearted laughs and smiles. He then found himself looking through his peripherals every few minutes to look at the Avian sitting down a few seats away from them.

Keith hadn’t spoken to him after the initial greeting and simply stared at the instructor throughout the whole class. But Lance continued to glance at him because the permanent frown of the guy’s face was concerning somehow. Lance wasn’t sure if they were truly on good terms now, but he was concerned either way.

Come next class and Keith still wasn’t saying anything to him, a scowl etched deep into his features.

“Is something wrong?” Lance had asked once they were left to do their warmups.

Keith paused in the middle of his stretch. Then he scratched the back of his head in a rather sheepish way. “No, why do you ask?”

“You’ve been acting strange ever since I came back.”

Lance saw the way Keith’s furrow tripled as he stared at the ground. Concentrating on it so hard Lance was afraid he’d bust a vein or something. He placed his hands on his hips. “Come on, Keith. We gotta communicate with each other, remember? What’s bothering you?”

Keith toyed with the tips of his hair a bit more before finally looking up at Lance. “I’m confused about a few things.”

Lance raised his brow, “Uh-huh, about what?”

“I don’t get what happened that day.”

Lance frowned, giving him a confused look of his own. He was pretty sure Keith was there when it happened. “Dude, I used my magic and went into shock.”

Keith huffed and crossed his arms, “Yeah, I know that, but I still don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” Because what more was there to say really? He used magic, he went into shock. That’s all there is to it.

“Why you went into shock.”

“Because of my magic.”

Keith groaned loudly and ran hand over his face, getting very irritated, “But why?”

“What do you mean why? That’s obvious!” Lance was getting pretty irritated too.

The guy’s face twisted to a ‘are you stupid’ look. “What part of that is obvious?” And Keith’s voice definitely cracked right there. That was pretty cute, but nope Lance is very frustrated with him. Honestly, what was his problem? After they just made up too. “Why would your magic cause you to go into shock? That doesn’t make sense!”

Wait… did Keith not know?

Lance stared at him cautiously as he said this, wanting to catch his reaction, “Keith, I went into shock because my body isn’t able to handle my magic.”

Keith stared at him for a few seconds before saying, “Why would your body not be able to handle it. That doesn’t happen with Allura.”

“That’s because Allura’s a full Altean. My father is Human, so I was born with a humanesque constitution. Therefore, my body can’t withstand the output of quintessence and so whenever I use magic, well… you saw what happened.”

“That,” Keith paused, looking very worried all of a sudden, “That always happens?”

“No, not really,” Lance shook his head. “I usually just end up throwing up or losing conscience. I forced myself too much this time, though.”

Keith exhaled deeply and looked to the side, his forehead furrowed in thought and fingers tapping rapidly on his arm. “So that day, at the entrance exam, when you used your magic, is that all you can handle?”

Lance laughed dryly. “Nah, not even that. It still caused me a bit of pain.”

“Then how much magic can you use?”          

“None,” he said immediately. Keith’s brows shot up in surprise.

“You shouldn’t even be using it?”

He smiled a not so genuine smile. “That’s what the doctor says.” He was feeling very bitter right now. He hated being remembered of how weak he actually was. Of how he couldn’t even handle shooting out a little shock without feeling that pain building up in his chest. “Anyways let’s continue before the instructor sees us slacking off and gets on our case again.”

Keith pressed his lips together to a thin line. He stared at Lance for a few seconds more before giving in. Lance felt relieved that he let it go. They continued on with the class without mentioning it again. The instructor actually praised them today because they had communicated with each other and cleared the level in the simulator for once. It was a pretty good day.

“Lance?” said a voice the moment their class was dismissed. Lunch hour had all the cadets rushing out and racing to get first dibs in the cafeteria. Lance stopped putting away his things and turned to look at the Avian who had called him.

Keith had that frown again and Lance had half a mind to ignore him and walk out of the classroom anyway. Then the guy looked at him start on, his deep purple eyes intense and firing up with determination. It had Lance in a trance. Just a slight one, though.

“I know we got off to a bad start and we may not know each other well enough yet, but I want to try being your friend.” Lance had to blink a couple of times, not truly believing that it was actually Keith standing in front of him and saying these things. “I want us to be good partners and be able to work with you better. I want you to trust me and for me to trust you right back. I want to be able to be by your side when your danger and I want us to protect each other.”

Keith paused and looked away shyly. “If you’d let me of course,” he mumbled.

“Is,” Lance started, “Is this a confession?”

Keith blushed so hard it was actually pretty adorable and hilarious. His wings were hiked up and looking awfully big and fluffed up. “No! I just don’t want that to happen again. I want you to be able to rely on me to help you out so you don’t have to resort to using magic and end up hurting yourself like that.”

Lance wasn’t even sure if he was really hearing this right. His brain was all scrambled up and he didn’t know how he should be reacting to this. “So, you want to be my friend?” he asked to clarify.

“Yes.”

“I, um,” Lance paused. Christ, he was a mess right now. “Okay?”

Keith nodded, “Good, so, I’m just—I’m just going to go.” Then he grabbed his things in a hurry, arms full and not even bothering to put it in his bag, and left the classroom in a rush. His wings were arched so high that Lance noticed it was a way to make himself less visible.

Warmth spread from his chest, traveling up his neck and to the high of his cheeks. Lance wasn’t sure what was going on with him all of a sudden. He tended to act strangely around the Avian. He felt things he had never felt before with anyone other than with Allura.

There was something about Keith. Something foreign and Lance wasn’t sure whether it was good or bad. Though, the way his heart skipped and twirled, the way his lips twitched and formed a small smile. He could almost say he liked the guy. As a friend of course.

At least the feeling in his chest was quite pleasant this time around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been messing with this chapter for far too long. Not sure if I'm completely satisfied with this, but I need to move on already. I don't want to risk falling behind.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance just about gets his breath taken away from how magnificent it was. Then he gets his head taken away as unwanted thoughts and ideas fill it to the brim.
> 
> He doesn't know what to do with himself.

_They had all been nervous when the lions were first being tested out. No one knew what to expect, but if the visions were being truthful then they had nothing to worry about. And so the paladins each got into their respected lions. Emperor Zarkon in the black lion, King Drax in the red lion, Queen Elizabeth II in the green lion, Empress Tsujah in the blue lion, and King Xarl in the yellow lion._

_Empress Honerva had apologized to King Lubos since he was the only one left out of the equation, feeling that it was partly her fault since the lions were her creations. The King had simply waved his hand in dismissal, claiming that piloting was never his thing to begin with. He said he’d prefer to stay on the ground where everything was safer._

_It had taken the paladins a bit of time to get used to the link that connected them with the lions. It was a bond of sorts that allowed the paladins to hear the lion—Emperor Zarkon had explained that they weren’t able to actually hear words being spoken, but that it was more of a thought being given to them._

_Empress Honerva was most impressed by this. She had never heard of a machine being able to do something like this. But perhaps the lions were not truly machines. In that case, she was curious to know how they had been given a life._

_The lions came together to became on single machine—the paladins had noticed after testing them out a few times. Empress Honerva had been amazed and speechless at the way the lions changed their structure and mechanism to become an even more tremendous machine, taking the form of a bipedal species._

_She saw the way Voltron moved. She saw the weapons it had, the speed, the shields—it was all incredible and she had created this with her own two hands. Empress Honerva wondered if it was even possible to create another machine like this. She wondered if it was possible to create many of them._

_She wanted to know more about the mystery of Voltron._

* * *

They didn’t get a good grade on the assignment.

It was, however, an improvement compared to their previous scores, which had all been no higher than 20 percent, so at the very least they had that going on. Well, Lance had seen it this way. Keith, on the other hand, had frowned so deeply when they received their scores it was as if the numbers themselves had personally offended him.

“Did you get a note?” Lance asked. He leaned over and took a look at the paper Keith had in his hands. Sometimes the instructor would leave them a note explaining what they did wrong in the assignment.

Keith huffed and shoved the paper in Lance’s hands. “I wasn’t supposed to let you use your magic,” he grumbled, slouching in his seat with his arms folded in aggravation.

Lance scanned the paper and saw the note that he was referring too. He had to stifle a laugh. Keith was being reprimanded for getting too caught up in his fight with Lotor and not noticing the way Lance was struggling and using his magic recklessly, which practically led to him ‘dying’ in battle. Then there were other things that Keith had done wrong, like going off on his own, arguing with Lance, climbing a dangerous tree, falling off said tree, impulsively dropping Lance on the ground, and fighting Lotor without a plan.

“Wow, this is pretty bad, Keith. You got to work on your teamwork,” Lance teased as he placed the paper back on the table. “All I got incorrectly was, well, dying.”

The Avian clicked his tongue, “It’s not fair. I wasn’t aware about the problem you have with your magic.”

“I mean,” Lance looked around the classroom, “everyone kind of knows about it already.”

“Well, I didn’t.”

Lance raised his eyebrow, “They call me damaged and defective. To my face. When you’re literally standing next to me.”

Keith scowled at that, “I just thought nobody liked you.”

“Okay, first of all, rude. I’m amazing so how dare you think that. Second of all, I’m sure they’ve even talked about my magic so how did you not get that?”

“I don’t know!” he said with a growl. “I guess I passed it off as your magic being weak or something. I didn’t think it meant you can’t use it.”

“I can use it,” Lance corrected. “I just haven’t been able to get the hang of it yet.” Keith gave him a curious look, like he couldn’t figure something out. It was unsettling to be under those watchful eyes. “What?” he snapped with perhaps too much bite.

Keith blinked in surprise as if he had not realized what he was doing. Then he sheepishly turned away, hands moving to play with the coverts on his wings. “It’s nothing,” he mumbled under his breath.

Lance wanted to insist on what that look was all about, but then the instructor was calling over their attention. She told them they’ll be taking a break from all the training and that today they’re going to go see something new.

The instructor took them all outside of the campus and to the military side of the garrison. They were all curious and wondering why the instructor was being so hush hush about what they were going to see exactly. She didn’t even give them so much as a hint, so they didn’t know if it would be a room, weapon, ship, or anything.

What they did notice was how heavily guarded the area they were entering was. Soldiers were stationed at every corner, patrolling the area and asking them for identification. Then they would scan the permission slip she had in her handheld device. The cadets were whispering amongst each other, trying to guess what that something could be.

It was when they had traveled several levels underground that the instructor stopped them as they reached an enormous metal door that looked like it would open to a hangar of sorts. Some had already figured it out by then what they were going to be seeing. Others, like Lance, were still clueless and when the hangar door pulled up to reveal the object of question they couldn’t believe their eyes.

Lance knew his jaw had dropped open, gapping helplessly like a fish, but he couldn’t care less. He even had to blink his eyes a few times because he just _couldn’t believe it._

Voltron was even more magnificent in person, what he had seen on the television wasn’t even comparable. All five lions were separated and sitting down on their haunches, perfectly lined up with their particle barriers activated.

Lance had no idea that the lions were this big. He couldn’t even imagine how much bigger they would get once they formed Voltron.

“They’re probably getting new paladins soon.”

Lance turned to the side at hearing that familiar raspy voice. Keith wasn’t looking back, though; his eyes were trained to the lions like everyone else. “What do you mean?” Lance asked.

“If the garrison is letting us see the lions then it’s probably because they’re trying to find the next paladins,” Keith replied, his eyes never turning away.

Lance looked back up at them, his eyes finding that of the Red Lion. “You think?”

Keith hummed in response.

Then they just stared up at the lions. Who knows how long had passed, but for reasons Lance couldn’t explain he was unable to turn away again. He felt a pull. Or a connection. Or energy. _Or something_.

It was an almost hypnotic feeling. The eyes of the lion captivated him, enchanting him in a spell where everything else had faded away, until it was only Lance and the Red Lion left inside of the hangar.

“McClain! Kogane! Get over here,” the instructor called out.

The sudden loud voice made Lance jump as he was snapped from the trance. He noticed how everyone had moved over and huddled around a commander. Keith then passed him and muttered a, “let’s go.”

“Allura, we should go as well.”

Lance looked over as he walked beside Keith, seeing Lotor gently pulling Allura’s arm to get her attention. She was also in a similar state that he was just in. Her eyes trained to the Blue Lion, he noted.

The commander spoke to them about the history of Voltron and how it was formed many years ago. They spoke of the first paladins and of the great Empress Honerva who built them. It was something all the cadets know, having heard the story so many times already. They talked about the previous paladins and how they recently retired from their duties. They talked about needing to find new paladins and how any one of the cadets could be the chosen ones to pilot the lions. The commander said that that’s why they needed to do their best and continue on with their training and courses to strive for the best.

It was no more than false sweet talk that the cadets were beginning to wonder why this person was even a commander. They all knew that the lions connected with their chosen ones at first sight. That connection was apparently so strong that you’d be able to tell in an instant that you are that lion’s paladin.

Lance had a passing thought and he looked at the Red Lion from the gap he found between the small crowd of cadets. He had the same feeling again and the passing thought stuck around in his head a bit longer. Lance forced his eyes away before he got pulled in too deep.

It couldn’t be. No, it’s only because of how amazed he is by the lions. It’s probably because Allura and Lance had joked about being paladins a month ago.

The instructor led them all back to the classroom once the commander finally finished their agonizing speech. Then she taught them a bit about the weapons and shields that Voltron has been recorded to have. She explained how the lions look for certain traits when choosing their paladins and that each of them seek different types. It is unknown as to how the lions are able to tell how a person is or how they are able to connect with them. She told them how there are still many mysteries surrounding the creation of the lions and that Empress Honerva herself was not able to discover it. She explained how even now new powers are being recorded even though Voltron has been with them for many years.

It was all very interesting, but Lance couldn’t focus on the instructor no matter how much he tried. He couldn’t shake off the feeling and he had many questions to ask, but is unable to voice them for some reason. Lance had occasionally looked over to the Keith, since the guy seemed to have gone through the same thing, but he seemed like his head was off in space or something.

Lance would call his name many times to get his attention. Then when Keith blinked away the daze and looked over at him, Lance still couldn’t say anything because he didn’t have the words. How was he supposed to put into words what he had felt when he couldn’t even process it correctly in his head?

Lance would look over to Allura, hoping that she may be able to settle the mess in his head, but she too was acting like Keith. She wasn’t openly drifting off like Keith was, though. Her eyes were staring at the instructor, her hand positioned like she was taking notes, but Lance could see it in her eyes that she wasn’t there. Even Lotor was able to see her strange behavior, looking very anxious and worried from the seat beside her.

The three of them had remained this way all throughout the rest of the class.

Keith was currently walking in front of him as they all filed out of the classroom and Lance made a quick second decision to at least attempt to get the words out. He walked up till they were side by side and cleared his throat. “So, that was pretty cool. We got to see the lions today.”

“Yeah, it was… interesting.” Keith’s mouth was pressed into a thin line, forehead creased in a way that cast a shadow on his eyes.

“Was it just me or were their eyes following me?” Not exactly what Lance wanted to say, but it was all that had come out of his mouth.

Keith sighed and adjusted his grip on his bag. “Pretty sure that’s all in your head.”

“Are you sure? The lions didn’t seem, I don’t know, a little weird?” Weird wasn’t even close to what happened. It was strange, unreal, intense, mesmerizing, etc. Not only weird.

“They’re technology has remained as unexplainable mysterious for centuries, Lance. Of course they’re weird.”

“Right, right,” Lance nodded and then exhaled loudly. “Guess that explains the pull,” he mumbled. So, that feeling he had gotten was normal. He was probably just overthinking it this whole time. It happens a lot.

Keith stopped walking abruptly and turned around to face Lance. “What pull?” he asked.

Lance frowned, “You know, the energy or whatever coming from the lions.”

Keith looked at him in bewilderment before looking around the hallway frantically. “Come here,” he muttered as he grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him to the side so no one could listen into their conversation.

“Wha—Keith, let go.” Lance yanked away from him and rubbed away the feeling of the guy’s grip on his arm. “What’s with you?” Lance asked while glaring at him, though it didn’t have any heat in it.

Keith leaned in closely and lowered his voice—Lance was getting some terrible flashbacks from that time Keith had threatened him. “You felt that too? You felt the energy pulling you in and captivating all of your sense like it’s trying to lure you inside?”

Yeah, Keith worded it a lot better than he could have. “… Yes? Didn’t we all?” Lance was confused. Not even five seconds have passed since Keith told him it was normal to think the lions were a bit creepy.

“No, Lance. I don’t think anyone else felt that.”

Lance opened his mouth only to close it again. He was trying to understand what Keith was saying here, but it was proving to be a great challenge. “What do you mean no one else felt that? Are you saying that we’re the only ones who did?” Keith nodded. Lance mirrored him, though he was still very much puzzled about the whole thing. “Okay, so we’re the only ones, um. Why were we the only ones?”

Keith pursed his lips and grabbed his chin as he contemplated. “I was trying to think of a reason why no one else had experienced the same thing, but only one thing came to mind.”

“And that is?” Lance had a feeling he already knew what that was, but he was crossing his fingers that Keith wouldn’t say it.

“That we’re the next paladins.”

Lance wanted to laugh. He really did. But Keith’s expression was so serious and firm that Lance couldn’t even force a single giggle out. It was crazy. This is all just so crazy. “Keith, we’re not paladins,” he said, but even he was beginning to believe it. What other reason behind what they experienced could there be?

“Aren’t we?” Keith replied. “From everything that we’ve learned about Voltron that seems to be the only logical conclusion. Paladins connect with their lions the moment they see them. What else would that thing we felt be if it isn’t our connection to the lions?”

“Then why didn’t they activate or something?” Because Lance is pretty sure he’s read that somewhere. The lions would activate only to the ones they choose. They would deactivate their barrier and lean down with its jaw wide open so that the paladin could go inside and pilot the lion.

“I don’t know, maybe we weren’t close enough.”

Lance sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Keith, are you hearing yourself? You and me being paladins? _Me_ being a paladin? That’s absolute nonsense!” He really didn’t want to believe it, but his brain was failing him and actually thinking about the possibility of it being true. “And what about Allura? She was acting strangely too after seeing the lions. She felt the same thing as us. So what do you have to say about that?”

Keith shrugged, “She must also be the next paladin.”

“That would be three first-year cadets as paladins. That’s way too much of a coincidence. Not to mention unbelievable.”

“The lions themselves were seen as unbelievable, but look at them now.”

Lance exhaled so loudly he could feel the exhaustion and irritation coursing through his body. “Alright, suppose we are the paladins, then what? What are we going to do? Go to the commanders and tell them or something?”

At that Keith frowned and looked at the floor, glaring holes into the tiles. “We should make sure first.”

“How?”

Keith looked back up and the intensity of it had Lance wanting to crawl under a rock. He already knew before the words left Keith’s mouth that he wasn’t going to like this one bit.

“We should sneak inside and found out.”

Lance hadn’t given him an answer, just said he would think about it and left. And think about it he did. All throughout his lunch he was thinking. Lance couldn’t even concentrate enough to bite into his sandwich from how many thoughts were going on in his head. It was like he was arguing with himself. One part was saying to go and find out, to tag along with Keith late at night to the hangar. The other part was trying to be realistic, telling him that it was impossible that he of all people was a paladin.

His next two classes were difficult to get through with the state his mind was in, but he managed to survive. Then at the dorms Lance had spoken to Hunk and told him about how he had seen the lions, excluding the part where he felt that connection. The Balmeran had laughed and said that in his mechanic course the instructor had taken his class there as well.

Lance had asked a few things, trying to see if maybe Hunk had felt the connection as well. He gave Lance half responses before going off about this new cadet who had recently transferred into his fighter pilot course. He talked about how the new cadet was placed in the same group as Keith and him.

Lance briefly wondered if Hunk was changing the subject, but shook it off. Maybe he was really just that excited about the new cadet? They didn’t talk about their visit to the lions again.

Late at night, after the announcement for all lights off, Lance lied on the bed on his back, staring up at the pitch black ceiling. His brain wouldn’t shut off. He kept thinking of the lions, of Keith, of Allura, and of Hunk’s strange behavior when Lance had asked those questions about the lions.

He wasn’t a paladin. He wasn’t.

But no matter how many times he repeated that in his head, he couldn’t stop wondering what if. What if he was a paladin? What if Keith was right?

_I’m not a paladin._

But his brain kept thinking about the Red Lion. It kept picturing himself with the paladin suit, sitting down in the lion’s cockpit. He kept thinking about forming Voltron, maybe with Keith, maybe with Allura.

Maybe he would be the red hand of Voltron, maybe his paladin bayard would be the most magnificent rifle he’s ever seen. Maybe he’d be someone important. Maybe he wouldn’t be called ‘defective’ anymore but rather ‘the red paladin’ instead. Maybe he’d shine and reach the stars just like he always wanted. Maybe this was his chance to finally do something for himself.

It was dangerous. To think of such things and put your hopes up this way. If all of this is just a fluke then Lance would be subjecting himself to possibly the worst disappointment he’d ever feel. He would be crushed. But even so…

Maybe he’ll listen to Keith after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're finally moving along!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance is still unsure of everything going on and he doesn't know what to do. But Keith and Lance talk... well, no, they argued first. Then they talked.
> 
> And Lance finally makes his decision.

_No matter how much time and effort Empress Honerva put on her research, she wasn’t able to create anything like Voltron. None of her creations came even close. She didn’t know what it was about Voltron that was different. She had used the same methods, same technology, same blueprints, but it was futile. Voltron could not be duplicated. Either way Empress Honerva didn’t have anything to worry about. Voltron had proven its worth to them time and time again._

_The universe had heard of the power of Voltron, effectively leaving their planet alone and out of the war zone. Some civilizations from the surrounding galaxies were greatly impressed by the order and peace of their planet. After all, not too long ago the countries were struggling to learn how to coexist with each other._

_Millenniums have passed since the six species all took refuge in the deserted planet because their own had been destroyed during the war. They were at constant odds, having different customs and needs, and while some species formed alliances it was only as a means to not create any pension. At most, they were able to tolerate each other, none wanting to lose their home again. Though, they had never been this linked together as if they were not originally from different worlds. Empress Honerva had done all of this._

_As a result, she often attended diplomatic meetings with the other civilizations, having been given permission by King Drax as he was still her king. She worked along with them and was even promoted as a coleader of Voltron. She planned missions and operations with Emperor Zarkon, who led Voltron as the black paladin._

_Many people adored and looked after her. Many civilization would refuse to go through the diplomatic meeting, demanding her presence as they feared things to go south if she was not, her accomplishments having become known far beyond their planet. Then after Voltron had been established as their defender, Empress Honerva was finally crowned as an official leader; the six great leaders now becoming the seven great leaders._

_She became Motherland’s first and only queen._

* * *

To say he was scared was an understatement.

Lance wasn’t sure how to even describe all of the emotions pent up inside his lanky body. He didn’t even know how to calm down his nerves. They continuously rippled around in anxiety, fogging up his mind with worries and concerns. He found it difficult to concentrate in class the next day. Only thoughts of what Keith had said yesterday circulated around in his head. His focus nonexistent to the outside world and the instructor frustrated at his clueless responses to questions.

The only thing he did notice was the look Keith was giving him from the other side of Allura. Lance didn’t even know what it meant. It was rough and stern, his jaw clenched and the center of his forehead wrinkled. Lance could feel his eyes piercing with such intensity it was enough to momentarily take him out of his mind and glance over. And it was still there. Even as Keith stared straight ahead his expression was meant for Lance, and boy could he feel it. Lance wondered how Keith was able to keep that face up throughout the whole lecture. His teeth have got to ache from how hard it was clenched and he was probably going to get some early wrinkles at this rate.

Lance couldn’t even stare at him for too long. He didn’t know what the look meant, but he couldn’t hold Keith’s gaze. Lance didn’t know why. Though, maybe it was because when they connected with each other it had Lance remembering their conversation with even more clarity. Whatever the reason, Lance’s eyes scurried away immediately.

They had to talk, it was inevitable. He knew, yet he hoped for the class to last just a bit longer. That way he could gather himself before having to deal with it.

Lance was still unsure of what he was going to do. One part of him was eager to hop along with Keith to the hangars and find out the truth. The other part of him was terrified to know the truth and wanted to forget the whole thing in the hangar even happened. Then a small part was dreading for there to be truth in Keith’s theory, because if Lance really was a paladin then how could he ever live up to the expectations of everyone when he’s never been… well, what they expected.

Now, Lance wouldn’t call himself a depressive person. Nor was he insecure or had low self-esteem. Lance is actually a pretty cocky person. He knows he’s handsome. He’s always pampering himself with facial cleansers and masks because he loves the way his skin radiates and glows afterwards. He loves looking his best and stares in a mirror probably more than the average person—not because he’s trying to fix anything, but because he knows he looks good.

Call him a narcissist if you want, he doesn’t care. Lance is the prettiest male Altean to date. Not to mention that he’s been featured in magazines countless times with that exact headline. Those always boosted his ego way too much that he wouldn’t stop bragging about it to family and fellow classmates. Allura would sometimes do the photoshoots along with him and he swore the two looked much more stunning together.

Lance was also very tall. He wasn’t as tall as the Galra or Balmerans, but he was taller than the average Altean. It surprised many people when they would meet him for the first time. It was always entertaining to see their reactions.

Point is, Lance doesn’t think negatively about himself very often. Sure, it comes out every now and then when he’s stressed or overthinking, but usually the feeling goes away after a few minutes. Though, lately it hasn’t been like that. He hasn’t been forgetting it and he’s been feeling the ache in chest too often that he sometimes wonders if he should go and get a checkup.

It’s concerning.

Though, maybe it’s because he’s still trying to adjust to his classes and to not having his family around. Maybe it’s because he’s stressed and frustrated at the fact that he’s taking a cargo class instead of the fighter class he’s been dreaming about ever since he first saw the stars. Or it’s because here, in Motherland, he’s not a noble anymore. Or because he’s noticing just how much these people have really been holding back on him.

Maybe it’s seeing Allura growing closer to Lotor. That Lance holds his breath every time Allura speaks to him because he’s expecting her to tell him some news about them. Or because he’s just now realizing that Allura was never going to like him back. Maybe he’s been hoping that one day she’d grow feelings for him because they’ve known each other for practically their whole lives. That maybe, just maybe, Allura had her eyes closed this whole time and he was only waiting until they finally opened. Maybe Allura never had them closed. Maybe she wasn’t ever going to look at him.

It was… uncomfortable for Lance. He’s supposed to be loud and joyful and full of jokes, full of laughs and teases. He doesn’t like the change. He doesn’t feel like himself when he’s thinking like this.

The class ended far too soon that it leaves Lance utterly confused when Allura taps his shoulder and he sees the rows of seats nearly empty. He wonders where the time had gone. Either way Lance gathers his things at a snail’s pace, reluctant to head to his next class. Keith was probably going to talk to him and ask again. And he has a feeling a simple ‘he’ll think about it’ won’t cut it this time.

The walk to their next class was awkward. It was filled with silence and tension and frowns. Allura had also been pretty distant all day, but not as much as the other two. She still tried to talk to them and attempted multiple times to hold a decent conversation during their last class. Though, halfway on their journey, Allura huffed and walked on ahead as if she wasn’t going to deal with the situation anymore. Then it was really just Keith and Lance walking through the hallways, probably at a slower pace than necessary, as she turned the corner and disappeared from their sight.

Keith had cleared his throat at one point. Lance tensed as apprehension seeped out of his body, building up in his palms. He wanted to run away.

“What’s up with you? You’ve been acting strange all day,” Keith said, talking to him for the first time today.

It hadn’t been what Lance was expecting him to say, but either way the words leaked out before he could truly think about it. “You’re strange.” And yeah, it was a childish thing to say, but he didn’t care at the moment.

He could feel the way Keith’s eyes turned to him, but Lance stubbornly refused to return it and continued looking forward. “I’m serious, Lance. Cut it out before people start getting suspicious.”

“Suspicious of what? I’m acting perfectly normal.” Lance was being ridiculous. He was well aware.

“Lance.” The voice was rough and curt, cutting through him sharp. It had him dropping his act instantly and abruptly turning around to face the Avian.

“Well, what do you want me to do? I can’t just act normally when we’re,” he cut off when he noticed the way a few heads turned to his voice. He lowered his tone, “when we’re going to do something _very_ illegal.”

Keith scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Only if we get caught.”

“Which we will. You saw how heavily guarded the place was. There’s no way we’ll be able to break in there.”

“You worry too much.”

“Because you’re not thinking clearly!” And there’s people looking over at them again with curious looks. Lance ran a hand over his mouth like he’s trying to wipe away the tone. Then he starts walking again because at one point they had both stopped in the middle of the hallway.

Keith follows after him closely. “Look, I get how risky this is going to be, but if we don’t do this we’ll never find out the truth.”

“I mean, it’s not like we’ll never find out. The lions are going to eventually start seeking out their paladins.”

“Yeah, but who knows when that will ever happen. It’s been years since the lions opened up and it could take even more for them to choose.

“And why is that a problem? Sure, we felt the connection or whatever, but the lions didn’t move or react. It could have just been our imagination or it could’ve been that we’re the next paladins and aren’t ready to pilot them yet. Either way we can’t do anything or else we’ll risk getting in big trouble with the higher officers. We should just wait until then.”

Keith groans and grabs Lance’s arm in a tight grip. Lance jerks away and gives him a glare, but the look Keith gives back has him slowing his stride until they’re both standing in the middle again. There aren’t cadets in the hallway anymore.

“Don’t you remember what happened in the last battle?” Keith asked, his voice low and harsh, eyes piercing through him once more. It had Lance clenching his jaw and wanting to get away, but he stayed put and forced himself to not break the gaze. He was not going to give in to Keith. “Voltron got hit with an ion cannon that shut them down for months. Then after they were repaired they wouldn’t open up to the paladins anymore. The electrical disturbance is probably still affecting them. Maybe that’s why we were only able to feel the connection.”

Lance pressed his lips together tightly. He did know about that. Heck, everyone knew. It was all over the news. He remembers the murmurs of everyone on the streets stressing out about it. Some worried that this was the end of Voltron. Then when the lions were finally online again they won’t respond to the paladins. It was concerning to everyone, but the paladins were old and had gotten gravely injured in the last battle. So maybe that was the reason why the lions refused to cooperate.

Voltron stayed activated, but they wouldn’t let down their shields to anyone. Years passed with no luck. Then recently the paladins gave up and officially announced their retirement. Though, people wondered if Voltron would ever choose again.

Lance let out a long and heavy breath. “Even if we really are the paladins, we could still get into a lot of trouble if we get caught beforehand. _We could get kicked out, Keith._ ” And that was a big deal.

Keith smirked, his eyes twinkling mischievously. “Don’t worry about that. I learned a few things during my time at the castle.”

“Castle?” he questioned. Then Lance recalled that Keith was actually Prince Keith. “Oh, right, you’re a prince.”

“I am,” Keith said, looking awfully smug about it. “My brother is very protective and he didn’t approve of me going out late at night. I had to eventually learn to sneak past the guards and cameras.”

“Your brother, that’s King Takashi, right?”

”Yeah.” And there was that bright smile on Keith’s face again from the mere mention of his brother. It was a nice look. He should definitely smile more.

Lance put his hands in the pockets of his slacks and huffed, “Okay, fine.” He took out his communication device and nonchalantly looked at the screen. “So what’s—”

Keith raised his eyebrows when he cut off, “What?”

“… it’s 1126.”

“Okay?”

“We’re late to class.”

“Oh.”

Then they were both racing down the hallway. Lance threw curses at Keith, claiming it to be his fault that they were late. Keith would retort and say it was his indecisiveness that made them late.

“Well, excuse me for worrying about my future at the garrison!”

“Yeah, you mean as a cargo pilot.”

Lance gasped in shock and attempted to elbow the Avian that was beside him. He dodged it, however. Lance pouted, “Rude.” Keith laughed and gave him a grin. This side of him had Lance nearly tripping over. He wasn’t used to Keith being so soft and… smiley.

They eventually reached the classroom and Lance was going to barge right in there, wanting to waste no more time, but a hand grabbing his arm, effectively halting him. Keith had a serious face on this time. “Meet me tonight in my dorm after curfew.”

“Wait, we’re doing this tonight?” He was not prepared!

“The sooner we do this the better.”

Lance scratched the back of his head and sighed, “Alright, alright. What room?”

“208.” Huh, that was a few rooms down from his. He never realized that. Lance nodded and Keith let go of his arm. After giving him one last look, Lance entered the classroom.

They had both gotten in trouble for being late, of course, and the instructor gave them an extra assignment to complete by the end of the period along with the assignment she was giving everyone. Lance had tried to charm his way out of it, but the instructor was a fierce lady with an unwavering will. She told him to take his seat—no, she ordered him to. Lance had shut right up and did the walk of shame back over to where Keith was already starting on the assignment.

“This is your fault,” he grumbled.

“Shut up and do the assignment.”

The two were attempting to rush through the two assignments because they knew any second now the instructor would tell them all to head to the changing rooms and then to the training deck. Sure enough, they were only able to get halfway with one even though they were doing half and half each to complete it faster. That means they’re going to have to rush the simulators to have enough time to finish before she collects it at the end of the class.

Keith and Lance have gotten better with working as a team, but they still argued way too much. Well, at least Keith listened to him now and they managed somehow in the end. It was tough and they were extremely exhausted, but they did it.

Keith and Lance lounged around outside of the garrison building. It was extremely hot and dry and Lance was sweating buckets. Altea is normally very cold and breezy, usually raining and the air was always humid. Sunny days were rare in his country. Motherland, though, was a desert and it barely rained here. The only time it did was the second day of classes when Lance had found out that Keith didn’t like rainy days.

Speaking of which, Lance has just found out that Keith prefers the hot weather. Avia’s sky islands aren’t too far from Motherland and it’s also pretty hot there, or so he says. Lance was surprised at the information. He thought that Avia was a cold country since it’s so high up in the sky. He was taught in his science class that the higher up you go the colder it’ll be because of air pressure—or something like that (he wasn’t exactly paying attention.)

Keith had chuckled as he picked at the wrapper around his sandwich. “We have a barrier surrounding the islands to regulate the temperature. Us Avians prefer to be in hotter conditions. So, it’s normally hot.”

“What?” Lance sputtered out some of the water he was drinking. “You guys have barriers up there?”

“It’s not like a shield. We can go and leave whenever we want without disturbing the barrier.”

“Huh, I never knew that.” He barely knows anything about Avians actually. That fact becomes more evident the more he talks with Keith. Lance glanced up and saw the sky islands that belonged to the garrison. He could actually see little specks in the sky flying around the buildings. “Have you been up there?”

“Of course, I have my flight class there.”

Lance hummed and munched down on the spoonful of green food goo. Keith wrinkled his nose in disgust and shoved more of his sandwich in his mouth. Lance shrugged and took another spoonful.

“You know,” Lance started once he finished his bowl, “I never would have guessed you to be an optimistic person.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asked with a single brow raised.

“You’re really confident that we’re not going to get in trouble and you truly believe that we’re the next paladins.”

Keith frowned, “I don’t just believe. I know we are.” He looked down and gripped his sandwich a bit tighter. “It’s not because of what I felt yesterday. I’ve always had an interest in piloting and whenever I saw Voltron on the news I just… it just felt like I was watching myself, like that was going to be me one day.”

Lance sighed and leaned back with his arms supporting from behind. “I also wanted to be a paladin when I was younger. I’m sure everyone has at one point. It’s a child’s dream, Keith.”

“No!” Keith denied, his voice so loud and penetrating that it took Lance off guard. He’s never heard that tone on Keith before. “It’s not just a child’s dream. It’s a feeling in my gut that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. Maybe I never took it seriously either, but when I saw the lions it all clicked into place and it… it felt right, Lance.” The look he was giving Lance was so sincere he knew Keith was not making any of this up. “Didn’t you feel that too?”

Lance turned away and put away the empty bowl in a plastic bag. “Maybe I felt it when I was younger.” He frowned and stood up with his things in hand. “Maybe I also wanted to be a paladin. Maybe I did, but I never believed it would happen. I never believed Voltron would choose me out of everyone else in the world.” He turned and started heading for the entrance of the building, but then a voice stopped him.

“You’re a strong person, Lance. You should believe in yourself more.”

Lance’s breath hitched and he turned back to look at Keith. Keith stared back, his eyes intense and so sure that Lance felt himself believing it a bit. He smiled at him and said, “I’ll see you tonight, Keith.” Keith nodded and returned the smile. He could feel his heart in his chest thumping. His stomach fluttered and a sense of ease settled over him.

Lance feels himself looking forward to tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I'm falling behind. This sucks.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is finally the time for Lance and Keith to found out the truth. There are some complications on the way, though.
> 
> They find out that it might not be such an easy task.

_There were many things Empress Honerva had to give up in her time. Becoming a queen was no easy task and leaving her country had been the hardest thing she ever had to do. And although she wasn’t going to be alone, as her followers and workers would be there as well, there were still times where she grew lonely. She missed her family and her friends. She missed Altea. Motherland was far too brown, too dry, and too barren. It had its own beauty, but she missed the flowers and the rain and the cold._

_King Drax had not been too pleased when this happened, but the other leaders’ approval and excitement to Empress Honerva becoming one of them had him accepting it begrudgingly. He had told her it was because he would be saddened to see her leave Altea. Though, the amount of times he’d talk to her about having the option of returning had her thinking it wasn’t the whole truth._

_Either way Empress Honerva had many people encouraging her along way and helping her ease into her new position easier. In fact, it was Emperor Zarkon who had been at her side most of the time. He would visit often baring gifts and platters of Galran cuisine. She had been alarmed at first, but perhaps it was merely a Galran custom._

_The gifts were always strange, consisting of helmets, armor, and weapons. They seemed odd to gift to someone, but again maybe it was Galran custom. The food she would accept with a smile and then later put away in the depths of her kitchen away from sight. She had tried it once out of courtesy and had struggled to keep a neutral face in front of the Emperor. Their food was always made with pure meat and while Alteans could also eat it, they preferred to consume herbs and vegetables._

_Still, she appreciated his gifts greatly. The way he would suddenly switch from a fierce Emperor to a clumsy and bashful Galra whenever she approached never ceased to amuse her. Emperor Zarkon was truly strange and unusual, but she sort of liked that about him._

_She found herself awaiting his every visit._

* * *

Lance had waited until the Balmeran’s steady breathing had occasional snores.

Hunk didn’t snore much unless he was deep into his slumber. Thanks to this, Lance was able to pinpoint the exact moment where he’d be able to leave his room. Hunk was still prone to wake up, though. He wasn’t a light sleeper like Lance was, but with enough noises he could wake up. So Lance climbed out of his bed with slow movements. His senses were on high alert and everything sounded so damn loud.

His heart was thankfully steady, but his palms and bare feet were sweating. He hears the sticky sounds every time his foot detached from the floor. It almost sounded like ripping paper and he wished he would’ve thought to not take his socks off two hours ago. Lance walked to where he last placed his shoes and put them on over his bare feet. He was not going to risk making more noise by going through his drawers.

Keith didn’t tell him to bring anything with him, but just in case Lance was going to take a flashlight. With that in hand he slowly walked over to the door with extra precaution as the shoes were making a lot more noise than his bare feet were. He reached the wall mount next to the door and wrapped his whole hand around his dorm keycard, slowly pulling it up, the metal ring not even touching the hoop.

Next he had to unlock and open the door. Lance swallowed the excessive saliva that had built up and placed his hand on the touchpad. It hissed and the door slid open, the sound louder than Lance had anticipated. His heart sped up a smidge when the low snores halted. He didn’t move a muscle and waited and waited. The snores came back and Lance stepped out of the room, peeking out first to confirm there were no guards walking around. The door slid back and he locked it with the key card. Only once the approval sign displayed and confirmed his key did Lance let out the breath he had been holding.

He took a couple more to calm his nerves and then proceeded to walk down the hallway to Room 208. It was just around the corner and thankfully he didn’t come across any guards. He picked up his hand to knock on it, but the door suddenly slid open and Lance jerked back in surprise.

Keith was there, wearing a fitted black tank with black jeans. Keith had panicked a little when he saw someone standing there, but then recognition filled his eyes and he sighed in relief. Then he scowled, “Where were you? You took so long I was going to go look for you.”

“I had to make sure Hunk was asleep first,” Lance whispered back.

Keith narrowed his eyes and looked at him from head to toe. “You gotta be kidding me,” he mumbled.

“What?” he snapped. It couldn’t be that he looked bad. Lance was certain there was nothing wrong with his baseball T-shirt, blue jeans, and cargo jacket.

Keith groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, “You’re glowing, Lance.”

Lance gapped and he felt his cheeks blush a bit. “Are you seriously upset because I look good?” Because that’s ridiculous. Keith should be thankful instead.

Purple eyes snapped to his in bewilderment. “What? No, that’s not—” Keith frantically waved his hands in Lance’s direction. “I meant you’re literally fucking glowing.”

Lance blinked and looked down at himself. He could see the swirls around his body glowing faintly through the cotton of his shirt. He could actually see his cheek marks illuminating too when he stared down like this. The dim hallway light wasn’t making it any better either. “Oh,” was all he said.

“Can’t you like put it out or something? It’s too noticeable. We’ll definitely get caught this way.” Keith growled out.

The Altean stared at him like he was crazy. “They don’t have switches, Keith. This is just the way my body is.”

“I didn’t think it would be so bright!” Keith was still whispering, but the tone was getting louder. “Why the hell do Alteans glow? It’s—” he paused. “They just got brighter. Why did they get brighter?”

Lance placed his hands on his hips—well, just one hand actually since he had the flashlight in the other. “They’re attuned to my emotions, Keith. So if want them to not glow as much then don’t rile me up.”

“This is so stupid,” he muttered under his breath before shaking his head. “Whatever, let’s just go.”

Keith locked his door and then signaled for Lance to follow him. The garrison would be able to tell that they had gotten out at night as they can track the record of their touchpads, but if all goes well they won’t be getting in trouble for it. Or at least get minimal punishment for sneaking out after curfew.

They made it the exit of the dorm building.

“What are you guys doing?” said a voice in a low whisper right behind them.

Lance had nearly shrieked as he hurriedly hid behind Keith for cover. He knew this wasn’t going to work out! He told Kei—

“Hunk?” Keith asked after the initial shock.

Lance peeked over Keith and confirmed that indeed his Balmeran roommate was standing there. Lance moved out from his hiding spot. “Hunk, what are you doing out here?” his surprise making his voice rise in volume.

Hunk huffed and crossed his arms. “I saw you leaving the room so I followed you to make sure you weren’t getting into any funny business.”

“Hunk, my man, I never get into funny business,” Lance replied with a smug smile.

“Uh-huh, right. So, what _are_ you two doing?”

Lance moved to answer, but then he paused. He looked over to Keith. Was it okay to tell Hunk? Keith had a scowl on his face that wasn’t necessarily directed at Hunk, but seemed to be his frustration taking form. “Don’t worry about it. Just go back to your room and forget you even saw us.” Okay, so they weren’t going to tell Hunk apparently.

Hunk raised an eyebrow, giving them a look that said they were stupid. Which, yeah, they probably were. “That makes me think that you guys are going to do something bad,” he paused and then added, “I mean, being out of your rooms after curfew kind of already is.”

Keith sighed and looked around cautiously. “Hunk, please just go back to your room,” he pleaded. The Balmeran pursed his lips like he was considering it, but before he was able to give a response the door to the exit made a sudden clicking sound. Lance really was going to shriek just then.

One second he was right in front of the door that was being opened by someone from the other side and the next he’s being dragged away and thrown to a wall. He grunted from the way his breath got knocked right out of him. Then something hard and soft at the same time shoved itself on his face, effectively muffling his noise and enabling him immobile against the wall.

Between the blur of pitch black feathers blocking more than half his face and the dim lights of the hallways, Lance is barely able to make out the silhouettes of two guards walking in, the door sliding shut once they’re inside. They stand there for a moment as one of the guards brings a hand up to his ear and speaks low into a miniature mic.

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t turn you two in right now,” Hunk mutters. Lance turns his head as much as he can with the heavy wing weighting him down and gives Hunk an alarmed look. Keith, on the other hand, continues staring at the two guards with a harsh glare. It looked like he was about to pounce on them.

“Because you’d get in trouble just as much as we would,” Keith gritted out through clenched teeth. It honestly seemed like Keith’s composure was standing on a thin line, barely able to stop himself from tipping over. Lance had a passing thought that he wasn’t the one that was supposed to be held back with a huge wing.

The Balmeran beside Keith clicked his teeth and grumbled out, “That’s a good point.”

The guard finally stopped talking and then quietly turned to his partner. The two walked away from the door, and thankfully away from them as well, making small conversation as they turned the corner.

Keith finally let down his wing and Lance spluttered out the feeling from having feathers shoved against his mouth and nose. Keith walked closer to the door and peeked around each hall to confirm there weren’t any guards in the area. “We should leave before more come,” Keith said as he turned to them.

“What? No, we should go back to our dorms while we still have a chance,” Hunk argued as he left their hiding spot, his head turning every few seconds to the halls in paranoia.

“ _You_ can go back. Lance and I have to do something. Right, Lance?”

At that Lance visibly jumped, he also looked at the halls like Hunk was. He rubbed his arms, goosebumps forming as his nerves jittered around, “Maybe Hunk’s right, Keith. We should just go back to our dorms.” He was already on edge since Hunk had caught them and seeing the guards weren’t making it better for him.

Keith’s eyes had turned so sharp that Lance nearly forgot all about the sudden scare he had gotten. “Lance, we have to.”

“I mean, can’t we just do this at another time?” Lance asked unsurely. Keith narrowed his eyes and Lance had a feeling that he was going to get more in trouble with him than with the guards. Keith wasn’t able to respond though, as they heard the steps of a lone guard walking their way, saying an ‘all clear’ in his mic.

Keith cursed and touched the panel beside the door, it slid open immediately. “Lance!” he hissed in a loud whisper. Lance’s heart nearly leaped right out of his chest when he saw the guard turning a corner and coming into view. He didn’t think twice after that and scurried out of the building.

Hunk had looked back and forth from the guard to them, his face twisted in uncertainty. The guard happened to be checking the touchpad of a dorm and didn’t notice them just yet. Keith urged him with his hands and Hunk finally sighed out before running over to them. Keith closed it by swiping his palm on the touchpad outside and then pushed both Lance and Hunk away from the entrance. They squeezed through the narrow opening between two buildings and waited.

They could hear the door swishing open and then the light clicks and clacks of the guard’s shoes hitting the pavement. He was walking to where they were hiding. Keith reacted immediately and shoved his wing in Lance’s face again. Lance tried to resist it this time, but the harsh glare Keith sent him had him dropping his hands back to his side. There was a full minute of silence before the guard spoke up in a low voice, saying to the mic that it must have been his imagination. Then the door made a swishing sound again as the guard walked back inside.

Lance shoved the wing away and let out a heavy breath, placing a hand over his heart, feeling it thumping rapidly against his ribcage. “Why do you keep doing that?” he hissed out.

“You’re marks were glowing too much. Control them.”

“I’m trying,” he grumbled, moving his hand to cover the marks on his cheeks. They were too bright actually. He was starting to regret ever agreeing to Keith’s plan. Speaking of…

“Keith, please tell me you have a plan.”

Hunk’s attention snapped up to that and said, “Okay, seriously, what are you two even doing?”

“Um,” Lance frowned and looked to Keith once more. At this point it was probably best to just tell Hunk. He was going to be tagging along with them it seemed. Keith still had a frown etched deep into his features and it didn’t seem like it going to go away any time soon. “We’re going to the lions’ hangar.”

Hunk’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, “You’re—!” Lance shot up and shoved his hands to muffle the loud voice. Hunk cleared his throat and whispered, though still kind of loudly, “You’re breaking into the hangars?”

Lance winced, “Yes?”

“Are you two crazy? You could get booted from the garrison for that, Lance.”

Keith groaned in annoyance, “We’re not going to get expelled. We have a reason.”

“What reason could you possibly have to even think about breaking in there?” Hunk asked, and Lance couldn’t blame him for the ‘you’re being stupid’ tone he was using on them again. This is all very much ridiculously stupid.

Keith huffed and leaned against the wall, “We’re trying to figure out if we’re paladins.” The Balmeran grew silent and Lance cringed and held his breath once more. All of this sounded insanely crazy all of a sudden.

“You—” Hunk paused, confusion building up in his features. “You trying to… figure out… if you’re paladins?” he repeated slowly, sounding out every word with a careful tongue. Almost as if he was saying them for the first time in his life.

“That’s what I said.”

Hunk stared at him, stared at Lance, and then stared right back at Keith. “Paladins?” he questioned again. Keith didn’t respond this time, just watched the Balmeran that was trying to process the words with very steady and watchful eyes, taking in his every reaction without missing a single thing.

“You’re trying—you— _paladins_?” Hunk honestly looked like he was about to have an existential crisis. “You’re joking right?” he turned to Lance. “Please, tell me he’s joking.” Lance shook his head slowly. “You two are insane. You’re absolutely insane,” he continued, his voice breathless and unbelieving. “How could you possibly believe you’re paladins? What, did they move or put down their shield or something?”

“No, but we felt something. A connection,” Keith mumbled.

Hunk paused at that and he gave Keith a wary look. “What type of connection?”

“It was a type of energy that seemed to call out and pull us in.”

There were a few seconds of silence before Hunk said, “Did it feel like the lion was looking right into your soul? Like its eyes were following you everywhere?”

Lance perked up at that. “Yeah, that’s exactly how it felt! How did you know?”

Hunk sighed and crossed his arms, his eyes taking an interest to the wall of the building, “I felt it.”

Surprise took over the frown on Keith’s face, finally softening out the wrinkles and creases. Lance was relieved. The unwavering expression was beginning to irritate him. “You felt it?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, but only with the Yellow Lion. I didn’t get the same feeling from the rest.”

“Hm, I felt it with the Red Lion,” Lance said. “So, if we’re right about this then that would mean you’re the yellow paladin and I’m the red paladin and…” he paused, now that he thinks about it Keith never told him which lion he felt the connection with. “What about you, Keith.”

Keith didn’t look too pleased for some reason, but at least his expression was pretty neutral, “Black Lion,” he mumbled.

Lance groaned at that. “Oh god, if we’re right about this whole ‘being a paladin’ thing then that means you’ll be the leader.”

Keith scowled, “And what’s wrong with that?”

And the face was back… Whoops.

Lance gave him a dry look, “No offense buddy, but you can barely work in a team with me. What makes you think you’ll be able to work with four people plus be the leader?”

Hunk cleared his throat, “Yeah, not to mention that you keep getting in trouble in our fighter class because you never follow instructions.” Lance could definitely believe that. Keith is constantly off doing his own doing. He was way too impulsive and if he has a sudden idea then, by all means, he’ll go through with it until the end. 

“If the Black Lion choose me then it must be for a reason,” Keith huffed stubbornly.

“Since…” Hunk started while glancing over to Lance, confusion clear in his face. “Since when has Keith been this optimistic?”

Lance shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been like this ever since we saw the lions.” Keith directs the glare to him. It had no bite to it, though.

“So, paladins, huh?” Hunk queried once more as if he still haven’t fully grasped the thought.

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “Actually if we’re right about this then that means that Allura would also be a paladin. The blue one.”

Hunk’s eyebrows fly high up, nearly at the edge of his forehead. “Allura? Really?”

Lance nodded. “Well, we haven’t talked to her about any of this yet, but that day we saw the lions it seemed like Allura was also lost in the connection like we were. Right, Keith?”

Keith looks down the alley to where they came from. “We should talk about this later. We need to start heading out before it gets too late,” he mutters. Lance didn’t fully appreciate being cut off from the conversation like that, but Keith did have a point.

Lance nodded and mumbled an agreement. He was still on edge and felt that their ‘mission’ really was as stupid as Hunk had said, but something about having more people to go along with had him feeling better about the situation. Hunk was smart and great with technology—at least better than he (and probably Keith) was.

“So, we’re actually going to break into the hangars?” Hunk sighed. “Alright, I guess I’ll come along then. You guys got me interested now and someone’s gotta make sure you don’t do anything stupid.” He pursed his lips for a moment, “Well, more stupid than breaking into Voltron’s hangar.”

“I don’t think there’s anything more stupid than doing that, Hunk.”

“You’re right. Stupid isn’t even the right word.”

“Yeah, stupid just doesn’t—”

“Would you two please stop saying the word stupid?” Keith groaned out, getting awfully annoyed with them. “We need to move on already.” He walked over to the end of the alley and looked around. “Coast is clear. Let’s go,” he ordered before getting out of their hiding spot. Hunk gave Lance a certain look, but the Altean just shrugged at him and followed after Keith.

“Oh man, we’re so getting expelled,” Hunk said and hurried after them as well.

The three remained quiet for the most part as they snuck around the different building and guards patrolling the area. Only the occasional hushed order from Keith and affirmation from Hunk and Lance could be heard. The closer they got to the building where the hangar was the more anxious Lance grew. It didn’t help that the area was getting more guarded since they were entering the military side of the garrison. Cameras were everywhere and more often than not the three had to just make a run for a blind spot.

Keith wasn’t kidding when he said he had learnt some things about sneaking around, but even with his directions it was still very difficult for Hunk and Lance to follow him. Whether it was the lack of experience or the amount of nerves coursing through them they didn’t know, but Keith carried himself with such polished movements that his steps were silent and his presence nonexistent.

Hunk and Lance often found themselves nearly losing sight of the Avian because of the way he was able to go from Point A to Point B quickly and flawlessly. Lance was actually pretty impressed by the way Keith was able to make himself seem small with those huge wings whenever they had to hide.

The amount of security the area had was absurd, at one point they were stuck staring at their destination that only a few meters away, but nearly impossible to get closer to.  Keith had gotten fed up and claimed that he was going to force his way inside.

Lance held him back with an arm before the Avian could march over there to the group of guards surrounding the entrance. “Keith, don’t you dare. That’s not going to end nicely.”

“Well, what should we do then because I’m all out of ideas!” he exclaimed, dramatically plopping himself on the ground with his arms crossed and wings hiked up, feathers looking very ruffled and disturbed.

“Maybe we should go around and check the back?” Hunk suggested. “There could be another way inside or an electrical panel.”

“What do we need an electrical panel for?” Lance asked.

“Well, I don’t think we’ll be able to get in either way without a special key, so we could probably turn the electricity off and force the doors open. The outage should cause enough of a distraction for the guards to go investigate.”

Keith hummed and placed his hand on his chin. “Yeah, that could actually work.”

“Except only one or two guards could investigate and the rest could stay at the door. Then what?” Lance asked. “We need a bigger distraction.” Keith and Hunk frowned and looked down at the ground, trying to come up with something.

Just then there was an explosion--a small one, but an explosion either way—a few ways away from them. Then the radios that the guards were equipped with started to make a lot of noise, frantic voices and static coming out of them. The guards all rushed over to the explosion, one barked out orders as they went.

“What in the world was that?” Hunk asked, fear making its way to his features. “Are we getting attacked?”

Neither Keith nor Lance was able to respond as all of the lights outside suddenly turned off. Then the buildings surrounding the area lost their power one by one by one until the building with the hangar was also powered off.

Keith stood up and began to race towards the building. “Come on, now’s our chance!” he shouted, voice loud and no longer a whisper as there was a lot of commotion going on around them because of the explosion.

“Keith!” Lance called out, going after him as well. “What if this is really an attack?”

“Then we’ll be safer inside!”

“Oh man, I knew this was a bad idea. I told you guys this was absolutely crazy!” Hunk started blabbering away, saying how right he was and that he should have never followed Lance. “Oh no, if this is an attack then does that mean they’re after Voltron? This is bad. They take Voltron and then no one will be the paladins, not even us.” Then he started going off about how they were all going die if they take Voltron and use it against us.

“Hunk!” Keith growled out, effectively making the big Balmeran stop. “Get over here. We could use your help.”

“Oh sure, don’t mind me. I’ll just help you two break in while there’s a literal explosion right behind us.” Hunk said sarcastically as he walked over. He grabbed onto one side of the door where it slid open from. The other two stood on the other side and pulled. The door resisted at first, but then it jumped back and swished open.

The building was pitch black inside. Lance couldn’t make out anything no matter how hard he tried. Alteans didn’t have night vision unfortunately. He moved his hand and it grasped plain air. He looked down and patted his jeans. “I… dropped it,” he said while turning around to see if he could find it on the floor nearby.

Keith raised a brow, “Dropped what?”

“My flashlight. I brought one.” Lance tried to recall where it was possible that he could have dropped it. “Maybe when those two guards walked into the dorm building?” Because Keith had practically thrown him against the wall, so maybe the impact made him lose his grip on the flashlight.

Keith let out an irritated tsk, “Great, the guards are going to find that and notice someone was sneaking out.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled while scratching the back of his head.

“Hunk, you can’t see through there?” Keith asked. The Balmeran shook his head. “Well, I can sort of see in the dark, but not much,” he sighed. He walked forward. “We’ll just have to make do. Let’s go.”

Hunk and Lance followed closely to the Avian. As sound as they submerged into the depths of the building a faint glow appeared, allowing Lance to see a few inches in front of him. Keith stared at him. “Huh, I guess that’s one good thing about you glowing,” Keith said. “Stay close to me then. It’ll help me see more.”

They walked slowly through the building, trying to recall where it was they had to go. They knew the entrance to the hangar was one the last floor, so they were looking around and trying to find a way to head down there.

It was difficult, though. Lance’s marks weren’t bright enough and it took a lot of concentration to get them to glow even more. They were attuned to his emotions and so it was easier to get a stronger light if something impactful happened to him. Keith and Hunk would try to catch him off guard and scare him at random moments because of this—the jerks—but even so it would only last for a few seconds. Eventually they did find an elevator, but with the power still off it was not operational.

“You’re a mechanic, Hunk. Any way you can get it to work?” Lance questioned, leaning in close to the circuit panel so Hunk could examine the thing.

Hunk glanced through all the wires and shook his head, “It’s no use. We’d have to either find some stairs or get to the control room and turn the power on from there.”

Lance groaned as he straightened up again. “More walking?” he whined. He was exhausted for of multiple reasons: being up so late, walking for so long without rest, and trying to keep his glow up. He was thoroughly drained and all he wanted was to go back to the dorms and knock out on his bed.

They didn’t get too far from the elevator before there was a sudden humming through the walls and then the lights flickered on. Lance and Keith were both alarmed at this, but Hunk smiled. “Backup generators must have finally kicked in,” he explained as he walked back over to the elevators and placed his palm on the touchpad. The doors opened.

“Sweet! Let’s go in guys.”

They entered the elevator and the doors slid shut. Keith pressed the button for the last floor and it began to descend. Everything was starting to become more real to Lance all of a sudden. They were really doing this. They were really going to see the lions and find out if they’re the next paladins. In just a few moments they will have their answers. It was all surreal and Lance’s heart was giddy, beating excitedly in chest. But then there was a slight sense that he was also terrified, because what if…

Lance shook his head and smiled. This was not the time to have second thoughts. He was here and he was going to through with it. Lance laughed and Keith glanced at him with a curious expression. He laughed because he had thought in a way that reminded him of how Keith acts; all impulsive and going through with the first thing that popped into his head.

Lance laughed because maybe he didn’t really mind that about Keith.


End file.
